


Brain Slush

by mlle_imandeus



Category: Sam & Cat (TV), Victorious, iCarly
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 17:26:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2076690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mlle_imandeus/pseuds/mlle_imandeus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Puckentine horror with zombies! Zombie AU written for a request from someone who thought BrainCrush sounded zombie-y. Could be a series. Might end up a crossover if ICarly or Victorious characters survive to rendezvous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The one thing the zombie movies got right: Don't over explain it. Cause when the dead are getting up and chasing you, you don't ask why, you run. And when they're all around you and there's too many to run, you fight. Then you discover they go down pretty easy and you flip that script and only run when there's too many to fight. And those people who run into a pack too big to fight, but also surrounding them. They die.

But there were plenty of things they got wrong. A headshot doesn't always kill them. The stuff in their head is slush, it's goo. The first thing to decay is the brain. So punching a hole in it shouldn't do a damn thing. But it does. And I'm not even questioning it. This is no longer a world where you can afford to question what works.  
I guess I can't even say it doesn't kill them. Better to say it doesn't kill them instantly sometimes. When the goo leaks out, they die. So shoot, stab, or smash low and it's quick. A screwdriver to the top of their head, doesn't do a whole lot at all.

It's best if you can sever or completely destroy the head if you wanted instant stopping power.

Me and Cat lucked out. Nona, gets up early and has made a lot of friends in her life. So she knew about whatever this was within two hours of it happening.  
Of course when she shows up at a quarter to five in the morning, we don't wake up when she knocks. She still has a key and it is an emergency so she lets herself in.  
Finding us naked and entwined in my bed pretty much solved the coming out to Nona problem. But she didn't mention it. She had more important news.

And as soon as I had Cat conscious again after she fainted, we were able to plan our next move.

Luckily, I'm one if those girls who had spent years playing with the question 'what would you do in a zombie apocalypse?'. Asking my friends; thinking about it on my own. I had a list of what I thought I'd need. And the first step was the mall. Nona had other people she wanted to warn so we made plans to meet up with her later.

Luckily, we had overnight bags packed. Carly was visiting Spencer for his birthday, and Jade and Tori were in Seattle as well. Spencer had gotten them a gig singing at a fancy coffeehouse that Socko's cousin owned. So we were supposed to fly there for the weekend. Dice and Goomer were in Fresno again. Apparently there was a lot of minor league MMA fighting going there.

I told Cat to grab the bags. "But I need to call Jade and Tori and Dice and Goomer and My parents. You should call Carly and Spencer and Freddie and warn them. And if we're leaving, there's a lot more I want to take." She said.

"We're going on my motorcycle. We can't take much. But you think about what else you need. The most important thing right now is that we hit the mall before anyone else does. We are not strapped for zombies but we need to be. And we need to be before anyone else knows they're coming.  
So we grab the bags in case something happens and we can't make it back. You think about a few things that you want to take and we'll swing back by here after and get them.  
As far as phone calls go. My spare helmet is fully enclosed face and has bluetooth. Wear that one instead of your cute one and make the calls as we go.  
I'm pretty sure Nona will call your parents though. We also need to call Melanie.

"What about your mom?" Cat asked.

"I'll let Melanie make that call. Both as in decide if we bother and making the actual call if she decides to." I answered.

Something hit me. "Wait I was going to have us go to the poor mall, because it's less likely anyone else would be there. Plus, the sporting good store has guns and knives. And it's got that big Home Depot next door. But if we go a bit south to Culver City there is that huge gun store with that ACE hardware next to it. I'm not looking for selection I'm looking for low key and unlikely to meet anyone else."

A second flash hit right before we mounted to ride. I guess I'm good under pressure.

I grabbed my girl by the shoulders, looked into her eyes and said. "I love who you are and how you are. But this is a new world. My Kitten needs to be Catwoman. I need you to know two things. As far as I'm concerned there is no law and we are all living on borrowed time. Which means if we need it, I take it. If someone gets in our way, I take them down. Pretty soon the whole world is going to be like that, at least for a while. But I'm getting a jump on it.  
I'm fine to take responsibility for us but I need to know that you can handle me doing what needs to be done. Because in case this isn't clear in the confusion of the morning. We are going out to steal weapons and supplies. I don't care about witnesses. But if anyone interferes it will not go well for them."

"I understand. and I trust you Sam." Cat said.

It's amazing how easy it is to steal when you don't care about getting caught. I just broke into the back of the gun store. The alarm gives you thirty seconds before it started. I just used that time to fill the owners coffeepot with water and throw it into the circuit breaker box. Which short circuited everything and disabled the alarm in a way that just tripping all the circuit breakers wouldn't have.  
It will still show up as a power outage at the security office and they might even send someone. But it wouldn't be making any noise and drawing attention. And that's what I was more concerned about. We weren't hanging out long.

I grabbed two shotguns on pistol grips, one regular rifle shotgun, a nice 38 revolver for me and a AP32 for Cat, (because it had a magazine and a lighter kick I figured it would suit her better).

I took all the ammunition he had that would fit the shotguns and 10 boxes each for the handguns. All the guns had trigger locks, but I could drill those out later. I was going to drill one out and load it for incedentals while we were traveling. But I found a nine millimeter under the cash register in a little cubby.

On the floor behind the counter I found a box with a dozen machete's in five different styles packed tightly. so it was heavy but small enough to grab easily so I just took the whole thing. I was looking for something a little lighter and longer for Cat. Lighter so she can wield it longer without getting tired. Longer so she wouldn't have to get so close.

I found a long thin saber but then Cat came in to check on me and pointed at a different display case. "Oooh, butterfly swords. I need these."

Butterfly swords are matched pairs of short swords with blades about 15 inches long and wide like a combination of a meat cleaver and a butcher knife. They go into the sheath fit together so it looks like one knife but then you separate them, one in each hand, to fight.

"I was thinking something a little longer so you don't need to get as close." I explained.

"That'd be fine in a different world. But I actually know how to use butterfly swords. When I was taking Shen Yun dance I learned to use butterfly swords and the ji, which is a type of light spear. It was dance not proper martial arts, but most the movements are the same and it's a start. Looky here." She held up what looked like a skinny dagger from the display with the butterfly swords. "A spear head and next to it a polypropylene spear shaft that breaks down into three pieces. I'm set for hand weapons."

We were just about to leave when a display in the back caught my eye. It was old improvised weapons. Under a sign that said, 'Anything is a weapon in the right hands'.  
It was mostly household stuff some as is. A set of gardening shears seperated into two big knives. A long fat iron bar that was a counterweight from an old garage door. But the one that took my interest was something called a kitchen gauntlet. It was a small cast iron pot with what looked like brass knuckles attached inside. so when worn it covered my entire fist in a bell of iron that went down about an inch past my wrist.  
I had a thought that this was a good weapon against those troubles we met that were still alive, since it basically turned my fist into a hammer and could even be a last resort weapon against the undead.

We were approaching the five minute mark and we had to get out of there. I still needed to stop at the hardware store.

I took Cat's hand and led her out. The hardware store next door looked like it had been in the location at least thirty years. It was small and a little run down, and almost looked like a little white house, in comparison to the fancy new all windows construction of the gun store.

It looked like security hadn't been improved since it was built. I was able to get through the door lock pretty easily and there was no beeping of an alarm preparing to squeal. A moment later it occured to me that the water trick next door probably knocked out the whole area.

A minute after we were inside, a white sedan with the security company logo pulled up. And a man got out. I could hear him talking to his partner and telling him to wait and watch my motorcycle in case we came back while he went into the gun store.

I only had a couple things I needed. Things I'd been meaning to add to my weaponry for some time but couldn't justify buying tools I wouldn't need.  
Luckily this store not only had them, it had them easily grabbable in a section near the front.

The first was a hatchet. I was pleased to find all one piece steel construction, so I didn't have to worry about a wooden handle breaking or the head coming off. I also found a rock pick hammer. It looked like an old time knight's weapon called a crowbill that was a square hammer on one face and a long slightly curved point like a bird's bill. Also solid steel one piece. It would do all the damage of a bullet but silently. However, sadly, also there couldn't be any distance.

I looked at other things, including hardwood dowels in case something happened to Cat's plastic spear shaft. But I decided anything like that could be too easily gotten somewhere else and was too stupid and unwieldy to carry.

As we left I looked cautiously out front. The partner was still gone, the guy left behind was just getting out of the car with his radio. I guess planning to radio my bike's license plate in.

I had to think fast. I pulled Cat by the hand toward the motorcycle. He shouted something at me. I didn't really catch it but I assume it had something to do with freezing and getting my hands up.

I would have loved to try to warn him and reason with him, but this was too early in the chaos, he'd never believe me. I just wasn't planning on chiz getting real this soon. And Cat was right there. I couldn't have anything threatening her or her safety.

I picked up the helmet and shoved it on her head backward, so she wouldn't see. I drew the 9 mil I'd found under the counter, flicked the safety off and shot him twice in the face. This was jungle rules, my friend.

I lifted Cat onto the bike and jumped on myself. Taking off as the partner came running out. He took a couple shots but I didn't expect it to be an issue. We were heading out of way and there aren't too many marksmen in low level commercial security at minimum wage.

I didn't even bother with my helmet. I didn't want to take the time. So I just left it hooked on the side of the seat and dealt with it being in the way until we were far enough away that I could pull over.

"Please don't do that again." Cat said when I got the helmet off her. "It's obvious what you did by the situation and the sound. And he obviously wasn't too hurt if he could shoot at us as we drove away."

I said, "That actually was his partner shooting at us," because I didn't want to feel like I was lying to her. But then immediately changed the subject so she wouldn't follow up and ask how the first guard was doing. "So were you able to make the phone calls?"

"Yeah, turns out Jade was just about to call us. They are staying with Carly at Spencer's. And Carly's dad called this morning and told them. Jade wants us to bring her car. She told me where the spare key is and said there's a trailer in the garage that her parents bought for the jetskis they never use. She said it should carry your bike no problem.

"Well that would allow us to bring more stuff. and if it gets stuck we can always leave it behind. Did you call your other school friends?" I asked.

"I left messages." Cat said, "I didn't get through to anyone else."

We went over to Jade's next. figuring we'd get the car, and then go back to the apartment to pick things up.

I didn't know where Jade lived, but Cat and I made it with her just tapping my shoulder whichever way I was supposed to turn and occasionally reaching past me to point for clarification.

Jade's house was huge. I knew her parents had money but I must admit I was surprised. We pulled in front of the garage, and saw our first deadhead.

I'm think it was the gardener just by the fact he was wearing grass and dirt stained coveralls and was holding a hedge trimmer.  
Althought he clearly did not know he was carrying it. His other arm was reaching out and pawing at the air toward us, but that arm just hung there with the weight of the tool.

I'm pretty sure he was drawn by the sound of the motorcycle. He was only like five feet away so it was not difficult to pop him right in the forehead.

"Oh Sam," Cat said, "Warn me when you're going to do that." She looked shocked and disgusted.

"Okay Kitten. I'm going to kill every zombie we see, that I can kill. So seeing a zombie, that's your warning that I'm going to kill it."

"Kay kay." Cat said. "I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that we're living less in the world we were yesterday and more in a video game. And if you want to survive in a videogame. It's strike first and strike hard."

"Yes. Exactly." I said.

"Catherine, Catherine come here. Bring your friend." It was an old guy calling down from a window.

"Oh it's Jade's dad." Cat said.

"Your name's not Catherine." I said.

"I know, and so does he, but he says that Catherine is the english equivalent of Caterina, and if I want to get anywhere in life I need to have a name that is recognizable to the American people."

"There are at least three famous Caterina's I can think of." I said.

"I know. All I can say is that's why he calls me that. I can't explain why it's not crazy. because it is." Cat said.

"But he named his daughter Jade." I continued.

"Actually he named her Jane. She just refuses to use her birth name. Has since before I knew her. He calls her Jade when they're in public. Because he wants to be understood and doesn't like to explain himself. But he still calls her Jane at home, or privately."

We went into the house. Where Jade's dad met us at the door.

"Hi Mr. West. I need something from Jade's room. This is my girlfriend Sam." Cat said as she ran up the stairs leaving me to make small talk.

"I'm so pleased to see you. Doubly pleased that you brought a weapon. I won't ask why you have it or where you got it." He said conspiratorially.

"I have it to kill zombies. I got it from the gun store when we went there to stock up." I said.

"Killing zombies indeed. I don't know where you young ladies get your imaginations, but you're not children. And if these fantasies are encouraging you carry guns, it's all the more reason you need to look at them again. You just killed a man. I know he was dangerous, he unfortunately got Mrs. West earlier and she's still out there. But if you did it because you thought he was a zombie, I worry about how safe it is to have you running around. Perhaps it's better if you turn the firearm over to me." Jade's dad said. He actually seemed to think it was a reasonable request as far as I could tell.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. You saw a zombie. Your wife got, what eaten by a zombie, turned into a zombie? I'm not sure what you meant by 'he got Mrs. West'. But if you can see that and immediately dismiss what you saw. I think you're the one with the dangerous imagination. But luckily it's only dangerous to you and your survival. So I'm cool with it." I said, "So what'd you call us over for?"

"Common decency. When someone you know shows up in your yard you say hello. When they kill a crazed staff member who has attacked your wife, doubly so. And for your information. He neither 'ate' her (He did the air quotes) nor did he kill her. He attacked her. He did bite her, she definitely screamed. 'He's biting me'. And then I guess he injected her with whatever it was he was doped up on. But she wasn't logy like him, she was running all around screaming.  
She broke two windows in the back trying to get in. Which is ridiculous, all the ground floor windows have decorative wrought iron, as I'm sure you saw. So she wouldn't be able to get in that way."

This guy seemed pretty nonchalant to be talking about his potentially infected wife. But I suppose he had kind of proven his delusional idiot cred. So I shouldn't be surprised.

"We're just here to pick up Jade's car. We're driving up to meet her." I said. "So as soon as Cat gets back we'll be out of your hair."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I don't know you well enough to trust you with my daughter's car. Not to mention you have a firearm and seem to fancy yourself some sort of modern day zombie hunter." He said.

I thought to myself, "Modern day? As if it was a completely reasonable career in olden times?' Then I said, "Well, as you say, I do have a gun. And if that dude wasn't a zombie I just killed a man. That's just that you know of. Who knows what my mornings been like? So I suggest that you don't want to get in-"

He looked like he was about to say something. But I'll never know what it was. In an instant Cat popped up from behind the couch with her butterfly swords in each hand.

She sank one in his stomach and out again in one fluid motion. Then when he bent over, both blades came down on both sides of his neck almost severing his head. Cat did a backflip to get out of the way of his arterial spray. Which took her back behind the couch.

I waited, expecting her to pop out in a moment.

When she didn't I went around back and found her sitting on the floor staring off into space.

I sat down next to her and took her in my arms. She was stiff for a second, then she wrapped her arms around me and melted against me. "I killed him." She said, sounding dazed.

"Yeah I noticed that, baby. Any reason?" I asked.

"Well Jade said if I see her parents to kill them for her and I said I would, but I didn't really mean it. Then you killed that security guard. And you shot the gardener. And you didn't even pause. You just did it. Bang. Bang. They were dead. And you said that's the world we live in now."

She was getting a little hard to understand, because she was crying pretty hard. I just held her, kissing her head every once in a while.

"I knew we'd have to kill zombies." She started when she had cried it out for now. "But that guard wasn't a zombie. And it was before we'd even seen a zombie. Before we knew first hand if this was real. But I know you did it to protect me. If we're going to make it we cannot start out this war handcuffed in the back seat of a car. or even worse in jail."

"I will do anything to keep you safe, Kitty. You know that." I said.

"I know you will and I love that so much about you." Cat replied, kissing me again. "Ever since you said that about the video game, I have been thinking about what Jade asked me to do. Thinking about if I should do it. Thinking about if I could do it."

"You should have just told me." I explained. "Then we could have decided together. And I could have done it for you."

"But that's just it Sam. You're my protector. I love that. I need that. But if this is a video game world everyone has to be prepared to kill. I can't leave it totally to you, or I'm a burden not a partner. And I will never be a burden to you Sam. I refuse." Cat stated looking into my eyes very intensely.

"You couldn't, kid. It's impossible."

"We'll agree to disagree. But it doesn't matter because I refuse to let it come to that. When we came in I still wasn't sure I was going to do it. But I told that story about going to Jade's room so I could sneak back if I decided to. Hearing him talk made me think. Jade hates her parents, like you hate your mom. And you wouldn't ask someone to kill her. But as soon as I heard him talking I knew, he is never going to make it in this world. Jade's mom has already been lost and he still won't see what's in front of his face. This isn't shock. It's just like the using the wrong name thing it is a pathological refusal to accept the world on the world's terms. And his money and power in the business community isn't going to buy him any indulgence in this new world order." She started getting choked up again. "So it was a mercy in a way."

"It was Cat, it definitely was." I comforted her. "Just like every zombie we kill is a mercy. Death is supposed to be an end."

We heard a noise then as Jade's dad got up. And I realized almost severing the head kills a man. But almost doesn't do a thing to a zombie.

"Close your eyes, sweetheart. And put your fingers in your ears." I said to Cat as I stood up.

Mr. West was standing there, his head tilted to the side. A gaping bloody hole on one side the separated flesh folded over itself on the other. He took two steps toward me. The head wobbling precariously with each and I spread his forehead all over the back of his skull and the back of his skull all over the wall behind him. I picked Cat up and walked the five steps to the door. Putting her down as I shut the door on the carnage.

"So where's Jade's car?" I asked.

"She parks in the carriage house behind the garage." Cat replied.

"I thought a carriage house was a garage." I said.

"It can be. But Jade's parents have both. The garage for her parents' cars and all the tools that the gardener who also works on the cars needs. Then the carriage house for Jade's car and the jet skis and their trailer.

I washed up in the shop sink of the carriage house. Got all the blood off. I was going to change my clothes for an outfit in my overnight bag, but I found several sets of coveralls hanging on a rail and those seemed convenient. Especially since I only had two and a half outfits in the bag.

"Whose are these? They'd never fit the gardener/mechanic guy." I said.

"They're Jade's. I think they're for loveplay." Cat whispered the last word. "I know Tori has a thing for uniforms. And apparently she also likes to be taken by mechanics or whatever."

I took my hand away for a second but then thought about how I just don't squick that easy. I changed into one and threw the other three into the trunk of the car. They were just too easy and useful to not bring them. Any one of us four girls could wear them in an emergency and I liked 'em.

It took me less than five minutes to get the trailer hooked up and almost fifteen to get my bike situated so it wouldn't fall. Jet ski trailers and motorcycle trailers were more different than I expected. But mainly it was because the trailer was too big so it was hard to put the bike in one place. But we managed it.

As we drove away someone came running at us from the other side of the house. "It's Jade's mom." Cat said. "Don't stop. Wait. Run her down."

"But that's just it, Cat. I have to run her down. She's not moving like a zombie."

"Well she's not herself either. Maybe there's more than one kind. Either way. We can't stop for a chat and let her nibble our bones. So run her down." Cat was obviously still struggling with this, and just as obviously had made up her mind.

"Roger, princess." I swerved the wheel and put the pedal down. But Jade's car is a big old beast that handles like a wet sponge and the trailer made it that much worse.

By the time I was close to where she'd been, she'd darted away. Luckily Jade's house was on the top of a hill. And once the car built up momentum it was really sailing through. So when I turned off the driveway and down the hill I was eventually able to overtake her. And when I bumped her with the bumper she went right down and under the tires. I backed over her and then got out. "Sit tight I have to go see what sort of monster we're dealing with in this one." I said to Cat and got out to look at her.

She was still moving. And broken up like that I couldn't see a difference. Same clouded staring eyes. Same ragged lips from snapping at everything that moved with a mouth that no longer had feeling, so she caught herself alot. I only had two to compare neither of them had I ever met alive so as far as I was concerned they looked pretty similar. For now we had to just cope with the fact that there were clumsy slow zombies and running zombies, and other than that we would just have to learn as we went. I put the pistol next to her head and pulled the trigger

Then I got back into the car and told Cat the bad news. That I hadn't learned anything and we would just need to be careful. The car couldn't make it back up the hill on the soft leaf-strewn ground while towing the trailer. At a certain point, about ten or twelve yards up, the tires just started to spin and got no purchase.

But Cat knew the property well enough she was able to instruct me in how to take the horse trails down at the bottom of the hill until they met back up with the road. Then we turned onto the asphalt and started heading for home. Our first stop in this new, horrible, exciting, disgusting adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

"When you were doing those phone calls, did you get a hold of Freddie?" I asked, as we drove down the freeway to the apartment.

"Left a message, but Carly said that he's in New York this week trying for an internship on The Daily Show. They're going to try to reach him, but at least when I talked to them, they didn't even know where he was staying." Cat said

"Well I've been thinking. When this thing spreads it's going to spread exponentially. And it's gonna spread fast. We are asking for trouble being anywhere near a city. I think you should call Tori and tell them to bug out as fast as possible. I suggest we rendezvous in the woods where we went looking for Bigfoot, Carly and Spencer both know where. Once we know how equipped they are we can maybe move it someplace more convenient. I don't know. The smart idea is to head for someplace it snows. Because these things can't be dangerous when they're frozen and the freezing thawing cycle is aging to cars and buildings. Just think how fast it would break down a dead body that's still wandering around. But that's all I have. We all have to brainstorm. And since we do have phone service still and hopefully will until we're together, I don't think it will take more than two days max, probably less. So we should be able to stay in contact all along. I don't expect society to fall that fast. But we need that Bigfoot forest meeting point. Or whatever. Because if it does fall we need to know where to go." I explained.

As soon as the car was stopped, Cat grabbed me and kissed me. Then she surprised me by kissing me again. And again. Then she climbed into my lap and started to grind against my thigh a bit, as her hand came up to cup my breast. "Mmmm, you are so smart. And so suited to this world it looks like. I just know how scared I'd be without you. I've already seen so much bad stuff today. I just want something good." She kissed me again long and deep. "Do we have time?"

I really wished we did, and I said that. Then followed with, "We can't know what level this has already spread to. Or how fast it will go, although I suspect it will be like a wildfire. We could have two days or two hours. But what I do know is once it gets that bad it's too late. Some place with a population like LA would be almost inescapable. so we have to be super careful. We ought to get clear as fast as we can. Then, when we're out of the city, maybe we can find someplace nice and safe. And I'll show you how lucky we are and how good life can still be."

She said okay, but she didn't stop kissing me. I knew I could just start the car and drive away if things suddenly felt hinky at all. Just pretend our return to the apartment had never happened. So I decided to give it a few minutes to get this settled.

I took her face in my hands and kissed her. When the kiss broke I pulled back and looked into her eyes. "This is not the world I would have chosen. If we had to wake up in a movie, I would much rather it was a fairytale. But as long as I'm with you, I'm happy." I said, then rejoined her lips to mine. I stroked my hands over her body as I kissed her. Trying to comfort her with my touch, which for Cat meant a fair amount of groping. I'm not one hundred percent sure it's normal, but unless she is actively sobbing, the best way for me to comfort and console Cat is to treat her like a sex object. But then again,what's normal anyway? And groping her reminded me of better times and made everything look brighter. So who knows, maybe it's just another magical facet of us being perfect for each other.

I wasn't thinking or planning ahead. My hand just slid into her pants. Down over her smooth skin until the tip of my middle finger rested between the crown of her sweet nether lips, over her clit. And I kissed her hard as I began to play with her swelling, hardening, little nub. Sliding smoothly down the length of her slit and back up with the gathered slipperiness that had made it to the front. I rubbed it on her clit and continued to play with it as I kissed her passionately and rough enough it was like I was trying to tongue fuck her mouth as my fingers rubbed her clit. Rougher than I would normally be and more focused on that one tiny part, that was usually too sensitive for such attention. But this time she took it and loved it and I managed to bring her off in just a few short minutes.

So just going with the moment and what felt right it ended up being the fastest way to get her back in her right mind and ready to go. But I've never been the finish quickly and stop type and never will be with this goddessangel beside me. So I just dialed it back and stroked her softly and slowly as I wound down the intensity of the kissing. Until finally I just held her for a moment.

"Mmmm, better?" I asked.

"You are so good to me, Sammy-lamb." She said.

"Do you know what else you want to take?" I asked.

"The glaring one in my mind is my brother's foot locker, now that we can. But I'll do a quick look around." Cat replied.

"Your brother's foot locker?" I wondered aloud.

"Yeah, he used to call it his survival box. I'm sure there's supplies in there and possibly weapons. We'll have to break it open to get into it, but I know it's not booby trapped anymore." She said confidently.

Since I hadn't been thinking it was until she said that, I was naturally wary. "How certain are you?"

"No seriously, Sam. I am certain. I know because he used to booby trap it and he kept hurting himself, so he stopped." She laughed. I'll never know why that girl finds some of these things funny.

"Well, if you're that sure, lets grab it."

It didn't take us long to get the army surplus foot locker full of whatever, my tool box, and a garbage bag each full of the clothes we wore regularly. Then we were ready to get back on the road.

"Anything from Nona?" I asked.

"Nothing." Cat said.

"Do you want to go over there?" I continued.

"I don't know. Do you think we should?" Cat asked, "I'm almost positive she wouldn't go back to Elderly Acres. Not before meeting up with us."

"What about packing? Don't you think she might go there to pack so we don't all have to do it?" I asked.

"Packing, of course. Didn't think of that. That's got to be what she's doing. But then why isn't she answering her phone?" Cat wondered.

"I don't know, do you think we should go see?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess we better." Cat decided and I started the car.

Something seemed off the moment I pulled into the parking lot. It seemed too quiet for seven thirty am. This was the time I would expect to see elderlies heading in and out of the doors. Going out to doctor's appointments. Going on their morning walks. Playing chess at the tables outside. But there was none of that. There were cars in the parking lot. Maybe a few less than normal, I couldn't be sure.

But what I could be sure of was the blood smears on the cracked windows and the fact that the lobby looked pretty full of aimlessly milling people. From what I could see from where I parked. "This doesn't look good, Kitten." I said.

"Well we can't just leave her there. What if she's alive?" Cat said, starting to cry.

"No baby, I agree. We're going in. That's why I'm scared. If we weren't going in, I'd have said, 'Well at least they're trapped inside and can't think well enough anymore to open a door.' But we're going in there with them."

I tucked the gun in the back of my pants. I tore open the machete box and pulled out a long straight one with a squared off point. I hefted the rock pick in my other hand. "You ready to go lover?" I asked Cat, who was screwing the parts of her spear together.

"Honestly, not really. But I'm not getting any readier." She said and started walking.

I caught up with her in two steps and walked on beside her.

I guess someone got out alive, because the electric panel next to the automatic door was broken and had a screwdriver jammed in it. The security guard's segway was parked out front. So obviously she'd come to investigate. But the fact it was still there pointed to her not being the one who made it out.

"Well it's probably better we sneak around and come in the back, but I'd like to do what I can to get them all on this side if we're going to be on that side." I leaned over the security segway and turned it's siren on. It was the weakest toy sounding thing I would ever imagine. but it didn't need to intimidate anyone. It was a noisemaker of adequate volume. I figured that was all I needed to get the zombies to head toward it and in doing so gather in the lobby away from where I hoped to get in.

"So have you ever been to Nona's actual apartment? Do you know which one is hers, once we get in there." I asked.

"I really don't expect her to just be hanging out in her room at a time like this," Cat said.

"I know, but we have to start somewhere and it's more likely than any other single place. So I'd say it's the logical first one."

"Yeah, I agree." Cat said. "And yes I know which one is hers."

Cat led me around to the back, where I ended up gently tapping a window with the blade of the machete until it quietly cracked and then taking it carefully out of the frame in pieces. I ended up cutting the rag I'd wrapped around my hand to protect it. Which meant that was clearly a good idea, because I didn't cut me.

As we walked through the back hallway we had to pass near the lobby and I decided to peek in; since there was a loud thudding noise and some odd sounding shuffling. Odd because it seemed to be more a scurry than a shuffle.

When we peeked around the doorjamb there were two creatures. One looked like a nurse, the other was certainly the security guard and they were running and throwing themselves against the glass of the sliding automatic door. I wasn't going to investigate, but they were clearly bloody and battered and just as obviously were not being attacked by their shambling cohorts. Who were actually leaving a clear path for them. We had apparently found a couple more examples of the running variety.

As we watched, the nurse cracked the door with her next run and the security guard knocked a piece out, putting her head and one shoulder out into the world. As soon as that little bit of freedom was glimpsed the shamblers, they came forward in a wave breaking the cracked and weakened door open and forcing the guards neck down to be cut deeply by the broken glass, before she and the door collapsed under the onslaught. The siren was louder now as the dead surrounded it. Jostling and pushing each other to get closer to it.

The nurse who had hung back a little now ran out of the building and kept running. Just as we were walking on, I saw the security guard stirring and struggling to stand.

Walking down the hall we heard shuffling in rooms and scuffing at doors as zombies trapped inside, behind doors they couldn't operate, tried to get out. But we had no intention of investigating and we didn't run into any dead that were actually going to interfere with our progress.

We found Nona's room. It was sort of like a cross between a room and an apartment. Like a hotel room. It had a private bathroom and a kitchen area with a square of tile, a couple cupboards, a sink, an under counter mini-fridge and a microwave. But I knew she ate most of her meals in the big dining room. Either way she wasn't there and there was no sign of a struggle.

What there was sign of was her packing, like we'd guessed. It looked like she was in the middle, a half full suitcase on the bed, several drawers partially out. Like she was in the middle and she got called away.

"Well she's not here." I said. "Let's look around. It's possible we missed her in that crowd in the lobby. but that's a last resort, only if we have to. Until then we need to assume she's alive and possibly needs us. Now we need to be careful and quiet."

Cat nodded and we left the room and began to move slowly down the hall. When we got to the corner Cat pointed to the arrow sign and said. "Dining room next?"

"It's the next logical place after her room and the lobby." I agreed.

At the next T intersection we surprised a zombie, covered in gore and wrist deep in the open belly of a resident. She looked like one of the housekeepers in her uniform. When she saw us she screamed a high gurgling scream like she was screaming through pudding or a mouthful of partially chewed intestines.

From what fell out of her mouth and down her front, I'm guessing the second one. She jumped up and came running at us. She was shortish and a bit chubby but she moved like she was running full out. She was in grabbing range almost before I could move but I pushed her back, using the hammer like a stick to push her of balance and in the split second it took for her to recover I had swung the point down shattering her breastbone and piercing her heart like a large caliber bullet.

As she fell back, I pulled the handle to the left, twisting the head a quarter turn so it slid out easily. It was followed by a lot of very odd looking blood. It was mostly normal but looked just a little off, maybe a little muddy or a little green, I wasn't sure. And the coppery smell of pennies had a hint of something I couldn't identify.

It was only two minutes max, probably less, just long enough for me to think about if I bothered making it permanent when she started to stir again. I severed her head with three hard blows from the machete and she was permanently down.

We walked down the hall past the body of the cleaner and the body she'd been eating, with Cat intently looking at the wall. But we were past in a few steps and she visibly relaxed. A bit farther along the hall we started hearing faint noises. We couldn't really sort out what they were or where they were coming from. But since as far as we could tell they were coming from the same direction we were going anyway. We decided it wasn't anything we needed to be worried about yet.

"I definitely smell smoke," Cat said

"Yeah," I agreed. "I've been smelling it since we came in. Thought it might just be some electrical short out but it's getting stronger."

We still heard scuffling noises behind some of these doors of their trapped undead occupants trying to open the doors by shuffling against them, which would only work over hundreds of years as they rubbed them down and wore through them and not even zombies lived that long.

As we got closer Cat said, "That sounds like a woman calling for help."

I listened harder, I wasn't sure I could make out words, but that did sound like it might be true.

We were coming in the back way toward the dining room and had to go through the laundry room.

The zombification had obviously happened recently. A few of the regular machines were still in use and all of the wall of industrial staff machines were grinding away, washing linens and the clothes of the elderlies who lived in the managed care section.

But when we were on the other side we could hear the dining room a lot better. It was definitely a woman calling for help. It was Nona.

When we realized who it was we started running.

And ran right in to the fire. It looked like a resident had set light to the library thinking of stopping the zombies. What they didn't know was the dead didn't care if they got burned. Yes fire would destroy them, but not immediately and until then they were wandering around, hungry and on fire. Which makes them temporarily much worse.

I'd read somewhere that books didn't burn too well all together, the air didn't circulate well through the pages, unless they were in a fire of other things that got them hot enough. Well I guess the curtains, hangings and decorations in the library were flammable enough because the books were certainly going now and the sprinkler system was doing little to nothing to affect it.

"What do we do, we've got to save Nona." Cat cried.

Right near the front of the library, before the area where the fire got bad there was a big heavy exit door. "We go outside and around I guess."

I led Cat outside, making sure the door closed completely. I didn't want responsibility for letting any more zombies out.

We got to the glass doors of the dining room two minutes later and could clearly see Nona, backed into a corner with a wooden hatrack, using it as a staff to keep any zombie that came close to her pushed back out of bite range. Because they couldn't surround her and she could keep them back she wasn't in any immediate danger. But there looked like there were about a dozen deadheads and if there was a weapon on the end maybe she could have whittled them down. But with what she had, all it was doing was postponing the inevitable, to give her a chance to be rescued. And she was obviously starting to falter with exhaustion. Luckily we arrived when we did.

But it was still too early in the day. All this had happened while there was still dew on the grass and a chill in the air, the heavy glass doors were still closed and locked.

"What do we do?" Cat cried. "We can't get through here, we can't get through the library. She'll never last while we go around and come through another door."

"I was just wondering the same thing. I was hoping to sneak up on them distracted and kill them before they were even paying attention to us. But there's no avoiding it." I said and hit the glass with my rock pick right near the door handle. hoping that if i chip away around the handle, the lock wouldn't be attached to the rest of the door anymore and it would slide open.

Which might of worked except for two things. This was a moderately upscale elderly village in LA. The door not only had a lock but bolts screwed along the length of it through the frame, and it was made of safety glass. They were not taking chances with intruders.

But it did break some and the tip got through, so it was possible. It just all stayed together and in the frame. But I was betting if a big enough area was busted up I could get it out of the way. And time was much more important than sneakiness that didn't look like it was happening anyway.

So I just started to pound away at the door with the rock pick.

I'd probably hit three times when the noise was enough to make Nona's zombies turn away from her and start shuffling over to the glass door. Cat apparently decided there was no reason for quiet now with all my banging because she yelled, "Don't worry Nona, we'll help you."

It was only a minute to get it busted up enough to pull the pebbled mass out of the frame.

Or it would have been, except my banging and Cat's shouting hadn't only notified inside zombies. Something sacked me on the play. Or tackled me from behind just as I was about to do something. In this case get that glass out and help my girlfriend's grandmother. And I suppose she'd been a surrogate grandma to me too.

It wasn't hard to sort out what had attacked me as it was now on my back snapping at my hair trying to get to my neck. I swung blindly behind me with the pickhammer while Cat said, "I'll get it Sammy!" And stabbed it with her spear with enough force to push it off me.

I rolled to my feet and saw it had been a boy about our age in red shorts and a grey hoodie. Cat had got him deep between the ribs and the bloodstain was spreading pretty quickly. But that wasn't much help with a deadhead.

I swung the rock pick at him as he charged me again. Sadly, I wasn't paying good attention and it was the hammer side I hit him with. It visibly dented his head but he didn't die. He did however stumble and fall through the broken glass door, pulling the whole works out of the frame and inside with him.

The assembled dead were crowding against the door so badly they actually delayed him clearing it. By pushing back as a mass and stopping him from getting any further in. It was probably his greater resiliency and energy that enabled him to push his way through them. But he did. And when he had worked his way between them he fell to the ground pulling the pebbled plastic sheet that had been the core of the glass with him, and then the mass of corpses closed around him as they jostled to get out.

I had been hearing sirens in the distance at least since we left the library, but given the current situation I would expect sirens in the distance would be common until civilization finished collapsing.

But these ones suddenly got a lot louder as we were saved from having to face the zombies by the fact that they were now distracted and turned toward the noise walking clumsily and the boy running but obviously worse for wear because he was stumbling a lot now.

But we couldn't worry about it, we could only be grateful that the sirens were going to distract them to give us a chance to save Nona.

Although now that I thought about it, they sounded like they stopped in our parking lot. Or at most next door.

Cat tripped over the ledge of the doorframe, because the door was still closed, it just didn't have a door in it. But it did have a two inch metal lip.

Luckily she didn't cut herself. I was not looking forward to seeing if this zombie thing could spread through open wounds. I knew we would have to learn eventually through someone getting hurt, but the longer the better in my opinion.

She did twist her ankle though. I was pretty sure she couldn't walk on it right now.

I could carry her; if we didn't meet anymore deadies and Nona could manage herself. I explained that to her and she said she'd be fine.

I gave Cat my weapons and lifted her up.

As we walked through the halls and heard the occasional trapped zombie going a bit crazier trying to escape and get to the sirens, but saw absolutely no one except a couple who were actually and permanently dead, I was grateful. We heard shots begin and continue regularly. "I guess the police or national guard came with the fire department." Nona said.

"Did you get in touch with my mom and dad?" Cat asked.

"Sure did. They said they would make excuses at the residence to get your brother out, then they would head up to Aunt Shirley's cabin. It's out of the way, and only about an eight hour drive from where they are." Nona said.

"I didn't know Aunt Shirley had a cabin." was Cat's reply.

"No, you wouldn't, you only met her once or twice. She's Uncle Jesse's wife." Nona said.

"Well I don't know who Aunt Shirley or Uncle Jesse are," I interrupted. "But that really sounds like a conversation that would be better had in a moving car. We only have a minute or two before we hit the lobby and we need a plan so we aren't shot by overzealous cops, thinking we're zombies."

"No problem," Nona said, "I had thought we might run into something like that. not here and now but at some point." She pulled a white linen napkin out of her pocket. "Tie this on your little spear there Cat. And wave it for the police as well as loudly announcing yourselves. Even the most overzealous policeman won't mistake you for one of them. They lack the coordination and the speech."

"Maybe some of them but those running ones, those are not the same. We don't know what those are like. Or why." I said.

"Actually my friend the general was- Ahhh" And this time Nona went down. She just hissed and moaned and rubbed it for a minute. "Ooooh it's twisted good, girls." She said. "Sam, I think you're going to need to take Cat out and leave her with the authorities and come back and help me. Or send someone back. I'll be safe here. there's none of those creatures. The sirens called them all out front."

"Alright." I said. "I'll be back in just a minute or two."

It was just one more short hall and then we were in the lobby. As soon as we were in view Cat started waving the flag and we both started calling out. The police came over the loudspeaker. "Attention bystanders. You have been seen and recognized as benign. Please exit briskly and carefully, we have you covered."

When we were about halfway across the lobby, Nona came busting in, jerking along, hobble-running as best she could. When I turned back to look I could see a lumbering zombie in pursuit. Nona made an exasperated noise with what breath she could spare and motioned me to run too.

There was only one, she had a decent lead, and we were running to safety; so I took her advice and began to trot as best I could holding Cat to my chest.

We made it out and were about ten feet from the first Sheriff's cruiser when the gunfire started. Just a split second burst of noise from about a dozen weapons as the deadhead was taken care of. One of the Officers met me and took Cat out of my arms. "Don't worry girls. You were lucky. We got both of them."

 


	3. Chapter 3

Cat whispered in my ear, "Carry me to the car please." in a dead cold voice.

When we got there she said, "May I borrow your pick hammer?" When I handed it to her she said, "Of course I will replace it if it's damaged." in that same detached voice.   
I tried to explain I couldn't care less about the rock hammer at a time like this, but she wasn't paying any attention. She took the long pointed side and hit her brother's foot locker with it until the lock broke and the latch popped off completely.

When the police began to approach Cat called out, "Nothing to worry about officers, all is well. I just want to break the latch off of this trunk so no horrible monster could hide inside and attack us."

They accepted it, because they had other thoughts to contend with.

But when Cat got the box open, it looked like a militia dump. It was half a dozen guns, a collapsible missile launcher with mortars and at least fifty loose grenades of different types. Also five or six bags of cheez crunchies and boxes of nutrition bars. Looked like some of the stuff dated back to World War Two, some were foreign from the Cyrillic labeling on the few full boxes. But the snacks looked good which was important.

Cat put the open trunk across the backseat and climbed in after it. "Start the car Sam." Cat said, her voice still expressionless but it had taken on a hard tone.

"What're you gonna do?" I asked.

"The car. Sam." She said by way of response.

I got in and started the car, expecting at any moment one of the police to come over and tell us we couldn't leave until they had a chance to talk to or debrief us. But it didn't look like it was happening. Cat leaned forward from the back seat. "I don't think I have to tell you this, but best we're on the same page," She pointed straight forward, her voice dead, her arm shaking just a little. "We have an unobstructed drive straight forward. Floor it. Through the parking lot, down the little embankment, over the curb, straight down that little street. Don't take your foot off the gas til we get to Quince and turn left. Is it quince like the fruit or quince like spanish fifteen, I always wondered. And now we'll never know. Okay now watch me for the signal."

She took two grenades from the box. They both looked like a stick of dynamite with a can on the top. She threw them out the window at the cop cars. Clean arc, good distance, not perfect but certainly good enough to get them where they needed to go.

"That was my Nona! You! Pig! Shit! Fuckers!" She screamed, then allowed her grief to properly take her as she crumpled into herself in huge wracking sobs and I floored it.

I had just gone over the curb and started down the embankment when they detonated. I noticed as she'd thrown, that Nona's actual shooter was next to the car that one of the grenades had gone under, the car whose gas tank had added to the impressive fireball I'd seen in the rearview mirror. So I was guessing even if he'd tried to run it was unlikely he escaped the flying metal and fire.

I wanted to pull over and comfort Cat, but I think she knew that. "Take the 405 out to that Tom's drive thru by Canyonback Park. It's out in B.F.E. enough to be likely untouched yet, but it'll be open. We'll get some food, take a breath and you can give me those cuddles that I really need right now."

I saw the reason of what she said, but it killed me to hear her sobbing and sniffling in the back seat. So I floored it onto the freeway and drove like a madwoman. That was pretty much how everyone was driving. Plus the freeway was really starting to fill up. Luckily no one else seemed to understand how much the police had become meaningless in the new world. I just stayed on the shoulder and zipped by traffic. I saw a couple cars far ahead who'd taken the same idea and more than a few copycats pulled out behind me, but I had no interference. I kept the nine millimeter in my hand to shoot any car that seemed to be in danger of getting in my way. But luckily there were not many of those.  
It was just under twenty minutes, including the time on surface streets after exiting, before I was in the Tom's parking lot.

"Food first or cuddles?" I asked.

Cat had quieted down a lot in the interim time. "Food first. then you can come back here and we'll eat and cuddle."

"Sounds yummy." I said and went through the drive thru. Ordering her a Greek salad and me a double barbecue bacon cheeseburger and onion rings for us to split, because one order was one of those paper lunch sacks full, the way other places filled a little fry bag.

When we pulled around to the window the girl who gave me our food asked, "I'm hearing all sorts of craziness on the news. What's going on out there?"

"Well, since we already got our food, I'll be straight with you. As crazy as it sounds, the dead are rising. Zombies are walking the streets and it's chaos and mass hysteria everywhere."

"You could have just said you didn't know what I was talking about. You didn't need to be a bitch." The girl said, her smile falling into a look of disgust.

Normally I would just drive away and forget her, but I was trying to do a good deed and I was willing to give it another try. "I'm serious," I said. "I've got a gun next to me on the seat. If you look in the back you will see that not only is my girlfriends visibly crying and upset, but she's sitting next to a foot locker full of missiles, hand grenades, and guns."

The girl looked back at Cat, her eyes going wide. "I suggest you walk off shift and prepare." I said. "Call and warn your family. Weapons. I suggest at least something smashy or cutty but long. A shovel is better than a butcher knife. A canoe paddle is also better than a butcher knife but not as good as a shovel. Just anything that keeps them away from you and has potential to smash or sever their head."

"You could cut someone's head off with a canoe paddle?" Cat asked from the back seat.

"I could, this one maybe not." I turned back to the cashier. "Get a gun if you can, but something that never runs out of ammo, sword, bat, shovel, axe, whatever, is more important than a gun if you are prioritizing. Good luck."

She clearly had more questions. But she was our age and seemed bright enough, she could figure it out for herself. I've got enough to worry about with Cat and hopefully our friends would make it out of Seattle.

I drove us up into the park a bit and found an empty lot to park in. I brought the food into the back and Cat crawled into my lap and clung to me for a moment. I held her tight; she was squeezing my neck almost enough to choke me.

"Hmm, I really expected it to just hit me all brand new when I was in your arms. But for now, this is enough. Just having you here holding me." Cat said.

So I held her tight and fed her there in the backseat. Also feeding myself in sort of a bite for her, bite for me rotation with a bit of comforting and stroking her back in between.

Cat didn't really eat meat too much but she wasn't smug and patronizing about it like most vegans. She would kiss me while my mouth tasted like bacon cheeseburgers or whatever. I think that's because she hadn't sworn off it. She just didn't bother with it most days. Like she didn't feel like it more than some moral stand.

Speaking of kissing, that seemed to be next on Cat's itinerary. We hadn't finished eating but that didn't seem to affect anything. She tasted like basil garlic vinaigrette, feta cheese, and olives. Which isn't as good as bacon but is pretty nice. And is more like what my lover should taste like, even I knew that. She never was a bacon girl, least not while I've known her, and it just wouldn't suit her.

First she put an onion ring in her teeth and turned to me, clearly wanting me to kiss her and take the other half. It was a game that worked better with french fries or spaghetti but I knew what to do and, naturally, was happy to do it.

Then we kissed and ate a little and then kissed more. My tongue touching hers, then gently beginning to explore her mouth.  
Trying to keep it soft and nice. But it wasn't long before Cat had made it clear to me, by ramping it up every time I tried to dial it down, that she wanted it hard.

And I had promised her, back at the apartment, I knew that. I wanted to get out of the whole LA county urban area before we found someplace nice for the frolicking she craved. But that was before she lost her grandmother and we were already here. So there was nothing I could really say. Except telling myself that we definitely needed to keep it under an hour if possible.

I started to slide my hand into the back of her pants as I kissed her.

"We're almost definitely safe here, right Sam?" Cat asked.

"More likely now then in the future. This has gone far enough that the people who would normally be here walking their dogs, jogging, or whatever haven't shown up. But the likelihood that it has any deadheads is probably pretty slim.' I agreed.

"That flat rock, where we had a picnic two weeks ago, is just on the other side of that field. I've always wanted to play naked at the park." Cat said, "Do you think we could strip down here and run through the field naked. Then go and play on that rock in the sun?"

There's no question it would be wildly irresponsible to pause our escape for nudist romps and sexy times. But in this situation clothing was not really a tactical concern. As long as I brought weapons there wasn't a big difference between if I was wearing clothes or not.

Plus, maybe one day all this death might become old hat. But right now if your Nona dies, you get your way on anything you ask for that day.

We stripped down and I made sure the nine millimeter's magazine was full and we ran into the field.

We were both naked, I with a gun in one hand and a machete in the other; Cat with her spear. I pictured us looking like something out of some niche fantasy porno. Cat small and thin, completely hairless everywhere except her long red velvet hair and a deceptively delicate looking spear looked like some sort of sex elf. Me with all my honey gold body fur grown out, because Cat loved it, blade and gun drawn, could be her neo-barbarian partner. If Shadowrun's adult entertainment arm wouldn't kill for pictures of something like, that I'd be surprised.

I am not the little nudist Cat is and I probably never would be. But I had to admit once the weirdness wore off, which didn't take more than a few minutes, it was cool. Running naked through a field with my girlfriend, stopping halfway there because we wanted to kiss. Then we put the stone that had been our goal on the back burner for a bit and just played. I had never felt so free and suddenly we were two teenagers playing naked adventure rather than girls on the run from the living dead.

If there is a sight more adorable than Cat's naked bottom running along, sun dappled through leaves; I hope I never see it. I don't think my heart could take the strain.

I chased after her and grabbed her and kissed her. Moving the kiss deeper as I lingered on her tasty lips and sweet agile tongue.  
Feeling her warm taut body, faintly sheened in sweat from our running. She felt so delightful in my arms. It was easy to forget the new world we'd awakened into, and I promised myself I would do exactly that for while.

When our heart warming and brain fuzzening kiss was over I took my girl's hand and walked with her to our lover's rock.

It was actually such a sweet small beautiful experience, walking naked hand in hand through the woods. I wished it was a bit longer of a walk. Because right at that minute idyllic and sweet even took precedence over the burning passion she sparked in me.

Because it chased zombie fear from my brain, not that I had any doubt more intimate acts would do the same. But sex had a specific end in a way simple naked frolicking didn't.

Of course all those thoughts were soon pushed from my mind.

Since I hadn't mentioned my second thoughts, when we reached the large flat white stone, like a double papasan chair made of granite, Cat let go of my hand and began to crawl out onto the rock.

Standing behind her watching her crawl, with her adorable hairless pink slit between her slightly spread legs. I had no choice but to drop to my knees and catch her by the hips, burying my face in her. Kissing her butt and upper thighs. Kissing down to her warm wet pussy. Kissing her lips with affection and desire.

Then as her scent and taste hit me I wasn't given the choice to work up to anything. My love for her filled my heart and brain to the point that they were smothered in the honey colored light of perfect beauty that was how my body and mind represented our love to me.

Just like I saw red when my temper snapped, I saw gold when I tasted my sweet kitten girl. Actually like the rage red, I didn't just see the rich gold of our love it filled me and on some level I became it. Suddenly I knew as soon as we were safe, if not before, I needed to marry this girl.

That was always the plan but 'some day' is not as assured as it once was and while I didn't want to die at all, I tripley didn't want to die without standing up and declaring our love. I wanted at least one night with her as my wife.

And oddly enough, where these thoughts were normally more warm and fuzzy and comforting, right now even thinking of that was soooo fuckin hot.  
Suddenly I was moaning deep in my throat, my hands holding her hips, my mouth on her, my tongue as deep in her as I could go.

Cat moaned and pressed back against me. Moving her hips in little circles pressing her cute pink butthole on the tip of my nose and her sweet soft pussy on my tongue and hungry lucky mouth.

One second it occurred to me to lay her down so I could lick her deeply and thoroughly, the next second I had moved from her slit to her bottom.

If I was going to move her to a better position for licking one hole in a second, I was first going to lick the hole this was the best position for.

As soon as the tip of my tongue entered her in back, she let out a surprised but excited moan that got quickly deeper and longer.  
I don't know what it is about buttplay that turns her moans of pleasure into pleasure groans but the same thing happens to me. Cat says it might have something to do with stimulating the root chakra but since that is in the middle between the two I can't see how.

I leave those things to Cat and better minds than me. She knows bodies I know machines, it's a good balance.

As I pressed my tongue in deeper, moving my hands slightly to spread Cat open as I held her. Her slim clever hand slid back between her legs to begin rubbing her clit and around the outside rim of her tasty front fuckhole while I pleasured the back.

I kissed her cheeks and upper thighs and gave them little playful licks before sliding my tongue back up to her butt. Licking within as well as around the hole, kissing it deeply and lapping at it in turns. I slid my middle finger in the spit slick hole to the second knuckle then laid her down and turned her over, rubbing her from the inside as I began to work again on her adorable cuntlet.

I kissed and licked her lips and began to give some attention to her tiny clit.  
I loved the fact that her pussy looked like a moist and expectant mouth. I thought it was cute and sexy as can be. But honestly, in the secret of my own mind, I kinda figured with my full lips and pinky tip sized clit I had to be more sensitive that her. Neither of us would ever know, and we both were very happy with our sex stuff. But I had to be gettin the better deal, I had to be. That's not even going into how lucky I was to have Cat be the one lovin on me. She is really good at it. I mean I'm good at it but Cat is like reeeaaaaalllyy good at it. And with the massagey stuff I suspect that is a verifiable fact and not just me being in love with her.

Course thinking about me being in love with her just filled me with warm cuddle goodness and hot cummy goodness and just made me want to spread her lips so I could lick deeper and more thoroughly.

So I did. Double penetrating her; with my biggish and semi-agile tongue in the front and my biggish and semi-agile finger in the back. I could feel my fucking and exploring finger pressing against the bottom of my tongue through the wall of muscle that separates her holes. Cat's fingers in my hair that had been touching and stroking me suddenly clenched as she moaned loudly.

This combined with the feeling a moment before gave me the idea to move my tongue on to kissing her lips and licking her clit as my finger in her butt pressed up stimulating her g spot through the wall. Something I'd only recently discovered could be done. I don't know why I was surprised, the prostate, which was what the gspot gland grew into in boys, could only be stimulated up the butt.

I knew I hadn't done the preliminary build up necessary to make her squirt but I did want to give her the hardest cum I could.

Cat started to bat at me as her moans got louder and I could feel her muscles start to spasm as she came. Right before she lost control completely she tried to push me away. As she always did because the waves were too intense. But I just kept going and soon she was holding on to me tight.

My own body was doing some muscle spasms of its own. She tasted so good and felt so good and the very idea of licking her while fucking her ass with my finger and working so hard to make her cum and knowing now that I'd done it made waves and little zings of pleasure build in me. Until I had my own small sweet orgasm just from making love to her.

As I kissed and licked her, slowing things down and bringing my lover in for a soft loving landing rather than just stopping what I was doing, I heard rustling in the brush. It sounded close-ish. I figured I would have heard it sooner if I hadn't been preoccupied. But there was still plenty of time to grab the gun and pop the deadhead that shambled out of the woods.

It was next to nothing and I was just about to go back to what I was doing when I realized the sounds were still there and getting louder. Not even three minutes later zombie dad who I'd blown away was followed by zombie mom and two little zomblings.

Still had them bagged in under a minute but the mood was gone.

Cat said it best, "That was a real bucket of ice water, huh?"

I agreed.

"I could get back in the mood pretty quick, but if you don't need some release, the roads aren't getting less crowded I'm sure." Cat said.

"I got mine enough to be cool for the moment just doing you and a bit of frustrated aggression would probably work in my favor right now." I replied.

Since Mr and Mrs Wormfood and the kids were in the other direction and we didn't need to pass or look at them on our way, the naked walk hand in hand with Cat was just as nice as the walk in and was almost fun enough to make me decide maybe we did have a bit of extra time.

But we just didn't, LA was hell on the best of days traffic-wise and this stuff would change it for the much worse.  
Not only would no one be at work this particular weekday morning. But everyone with an ounce of sense and a mind open enough to believe their own eyes would be on the road trying to leave before the zombies got thick enough in the city to make escape realistically impossible.

I drove down and stopped next to the ranger station and got online on my pear phone using their wifi.

It turned out that we were looking at a seventeen hour drive minimum.

I thought it was closer to ten but when I came on my bike it was very roundabout, and when I'd come before like the time we came with Spencer in the RV, he was stopping every five minutes to wazz or eat or look at the pretty leaf.  
So I guess I over compacted how fast I could do it.  
With roads as they stood we were probably looking at two days. Luckily the mountains where we were meeting were south of Seattle a couple hours, but even then it wasn't near enough to even cancel the fact it'd be slower going with panic stricken traffic.

Even if we got out of LA on time, there were plenty of other panicked cities. Maybe not as big, but plenty big enough between us and our friends.

My original idea was to take the five north, but it gave the 15 to the 84 when I Zaplooked directions and that was only four hours different on a normal day.

But I'd ridden those roads. A most of that is out in the boonies a lot more than the 5. I really thought it'd be safer and no longer once all was said and done. Further definitely, but no longer, and the campground we were shooting for was off the 84.

We'd head near or through Vegas and Salt Lake City and a couple other not as big as LA but biggish cities but where we were meeting everyone would be before it hit Portland and it seemed better all the way around.

So I fought my way over to the 210 with aggressive driving and keeping to the shoulder where possible.  
Getting there was madness and it took almost two hours but I noticed before we even hit the 15 it was slacking off some and it just got better.

Still I noticed that things continued to be a dozen different kinds of fucked.

Including one of the runner zombies running right toward me. I almost just hit him but then remembered how much a body can annihilate a car, and we'd just gotten lucky with Mrs. West.

In the end I popped him a couple times and drove over him when he fell. This had the added benefit of letting the other cars know I had a gun, close at hand, had no issue with using it, and could use it skillfully enough to shoot someone accurately from a moving car. Which was definitely information I wanted them to have.

Not long after that Cat's phone rang. It was Dice and Goomer, they'd gotten our message and after one last check to make sure Cat wasn't joking and a brief description of what we'd seen They said they'd seen some strange things themselves but the full blown panic and the zombies that caused it had made it to Fresno but not yet in great enough numbers to be obvious.

We agreed to meet them in Barstow where the 15 left California. Not only was that the most convenient place between here and there but I honestly would rather have a little back up for the two of us heading into vegas. Which I suspected was going to be a bad scene.

Plus Dice had an uncle and some cousins there so he was able to give us the location of an Inside Out Burger that we could meet at.

If I was going to say the drive to Barstow was uneventful, I would want to clarify first that uneventful had a different meaning in this new and unimproved world. It now meant except for the horror and carnage, the dead people of all ages and amounts of having been consumed, many of whom were still up walking around. Plus the constant certain knowledge that you were only one inevitable traffic jam away from fighting hordes of the ravenous dead for your life, it was uneventful.

But those were some pretty big 'aside from's.

We found Goomer's car exactly where we expected to but the boys weren't in it. Just allowing for driving time and the fact the hood was still hot there is no way it had been sitting for even thirty minutes.

Of course the first place we looked was in the restaurant. That was before we even wondered where they could be. Saw an empty car and assumed. But they weren't there, no one was. There were cars in the parking lot. The doors were open. But no one living or dead, staff or customer, was inside.

It was maybe two hours from dusk; maybe eleven hours since Nona had woken us with the unbelievable news.

The suburban streets of Barstow were a little worse for wear. There were a few accidents. One car fire that was completely unattended, and if not quite as many abandoned mutilated corpses as a larger city might have, there were certainly enough to notice.

But no Goomer or Dice. The few passersby we could get to even speak to us had no information to share.  
Even that was no surprise since they would have arrived so recently and so very few people could be stopped unless I threatened them with a gun and people threatened will say anything they think you want to hear. Especially in a situation like this where they just want to shut me up and get on their way.

We didn't know what to do and were just walking the streets. I had just brought up the possibility that we might have to leave without them when we heard Dice's voice. "Clovis no! Goomer hold him tighter."

We started to run. We came around the corner and saw them about halfway down the block. Dice was almost to Goomer, running himself. Goomer was holding a little kid about four who was thrashing and snapping his little jaws, his eyes rolling in their sockets. Guessing the kid was a runner.

"There you are." Cat said. "We have been looking for you boys for hmmmm… forty minutes now. Why didn't you stay by the car?"

I would have started with, 'Why'd you catch one? You can't keep it as a pet.' But my Kitten has her own priorities.

"We were waiting there, I'd tried to call my Uncle Flaubert maybe half a dozen times." Dice said. "No answer and suddenly little Clovis runs past the parking lot in the street screaming and crying. Being chased by his sister, Mabel. But she'd gone crazy. Naturally we ran after them. Hoping that we could save him. Right before we got to them I called out to him to reassure him. Of course as soon as he hears his name and recognizes my voice he stops and Mabel catches him.  
We can't have been more than twenty feet back. She couldn't have had him for even ten seconds before we were there. She bit him pretty bad on the shoulder but that was it."

"Goomer got Clovis away and knocked Mabel down and she came up attacking us." Dice finished.

"That must have been your first runner." I said. "There are two kinds of zombies. Most are your standard movie walking corpses. Slow, plodding, clumsy but there are a few that are more like people, but completely out of control."

"I don't think they're zombies." Dice said. "I think they're victims of zombies. Hold him still Goomer." Goomer took a slightly different grip on the kid as the tendons bunched in his neck as well as his arms, but he held him almost completely still.

Dice approached closely. "Look at these eyes. They're the eyes of a wild animal now. My cousin isn't in there anymore. But these are the seeing eyes of a living being. Mabel's eyes didn't go blank and cloudy until Goomer had to kill her with an axe just to stop her. The runners as you call them are living people infected with whatever it is the zombies have. Infected with zombieism."

I thought back and the only ones we had seen up super close. Close enough to tell, like Mrs West, had already been killed when we examined them. Others like the freeway runner or the one who tackled me at Elderly Acres either I killed and ignored or they got away, either way I wasn't investigating.

"Maybe you're right, it certainly fits as good or better than a mysterious second strain of zombie. Either way I don't think they can be brought back. So there is no reason to treat them any different." I placed the gun against the kid's head and pulled the trigger. Carefully aiming so the bullet, and the head splatters it carried with it, went away from us.


	4. Chapter 4

Dice looked at me. "What the hell Sam? He was just a little kid!" He shouted.

"No Dice, he was a little zombie. Whatever they were before, once they turn, one is just the same as another and we can't let any of them live. It's not pretty and its sad and it sucks. This kid with never get to grow up. But at least he's missing the rest of the whole world going to hell. I need to know you can do what needs to be done. If you don't have what it takes to stop me, Cat or even Goomer if it comes to that, it would be more merciful if I shot you now than let you die slowly in this shitty new world." I said, giving it to him straight.

"I know what you're saying. And I don't know if I could kill you guys. Or stop you, or whatever because you'd already be dead. Is that okay Sam? Or do you need an answer right this minute if I don't want you to kill me?" Dice said. He was freaking out still, but I could tell he had honestly heard me and assimilated what I said. So I dropped it.

"Sorry about your cousin, Dice, I really am. Do you want to swing past your uncle's house before we take off?" I said.

Several emotions crossed his face and I'm certain he almost told me to waz off, but he thought better of it and said. "I can't imagine a world where he wouldn't be answering his phone and where Mabel and Clovis would be running the streets unattended if anything was even remotely normal. Or if he was even still alive in any real way. Yeah, lets make a quick stop. It's really not out of the way and it will settle my mind. I've already tried my mom and Aunt Fergine. Goomer tried his mom. No answer anywhere we might be the only ones around."

"This early in the game, that's very unlikely. But, we definitely didn't see them around or your mom's car or we would have warned them. Just like if we'd seen Melinda or any of her kids. Or really, even creepy little Dilben. I didn't knock on any doors, I was too busy trying to get Cat out of there safely. But I would have told anyone we knew if I'd seen them." I said.

"What about Nona?" Dice asked. Which started Cat crying and I had to tell him his childhood babysitter and grandmother figure had been gunned down by cops in a case of mistaken identity.

He was almost as torn up as Cat, even Goomer started to cry. But we were only allowed a few minutes grief before another runner attacked; and we were reminded in this new world if you took too much time for the dead, you joined 'em.

It was easy for me to put a bullet in the runner, but we learned our lesson.

Back at the cars Dice asked for the nine millimeter. Which brought up the weapons sitch. We would be caravaning so we didn't need to worry about being separated. I ended up giving Dice the nine millimeter because the guns in the footlocker were chosen more for being big with a lot of stopping power. I took a snub nosed 38 revolver to replace the nine. It was similar to the 32 I'd taken for myself from the gun store except it was a bit bigger and heavier as well as being clearly older and not as nice. Also, we threw a couple grenades in the glove box just in case. But the foot locker itself as well as the rest of its contents, along with the machete box with the other five blades in it, was transferred to Goomer's car.

Cat would drive Jade's beast on this next leg of the trip and I would drill out the trigger locks while we drove. Because there was no reason to ever keep unusable guns with us. And with the triggerlocks intact they were more paperweights than weapons. But they shouldn't take more than ten minutes each, max. So we also didn't feel we needed to keep any of the other weapons with us.

Dice's uncle's place was completely empty. Closure might have been nice for the kid but I would rather he always wonder if they'd survived, then if he had to watch me plow through all his tiny cousins. Popping each one in their little head.

We hadn't even gone ten miles on the freeway before my phone rang. It turned out to be Peezy B.

"Puckett, I need ya." Peezy said. "There's dead people in the streets, Puckett. I need you to come to Las Vegas, Puckett. I'm here locked in my room, all I got here is Bunny and that Mindy girl you gave me. And they are useless against dead folks who's up walkin around. You gotta come here and save me, Puckett." He stretched my name out, whining it into like four syllables.

"Well, I don't know, Peeny. We are heading to Vegas anyway right now, but we have things we have to do and places we have to be." I said.

"You know it's Peezy, Puckett. Peezy B. Aren't we friends? Why don't you come to Vegas and save your old friend Peezy B." Peezy said.

"I'm with my friend Cat, Peez. I'll ask her and my other friends and call you back."I told him.

"Cat? That lil girl dance like a squirrel? She'll definitely wanna save ol Peezy. She loves me." He said confidently

"Naw, she doesn't Peezy. She really doesn't." I said.

I got off the line with him and talked to my girl. Then we called Dice and Gooms and put them on speaker so we could all discuss it. I was the only one voting to leave him to his fate. Cat had no love for the selfish rude star, but she couldn't bear to stand by when someone she could help needed her and Mindy was her friend and Bunny was just an innocent employee. We couldn't hold Peezy's behavior against him. The guys were star struck enough that it really didn't even matter whether he was a good guy. He was just so cool and famous they wanted to do anything they could for him.

So I called him back and told him to sit tight and we'd be there in about two hours, then went back to sorting out the locks on the guns.

Luckily, the roads were flat enough and straight enough I was comfortable using a powerdrill as we drove along. It turned out I didn't need to worry about running out of battery power. However a triggerlock will wear through a drill bit in moments so I only managed to get three out before I had to give up out of lack of appropriate sized bits. I got Cat's handgun, the rifle shotgun, and one of the pistol grip shotguns.

I figured my revolver and the other pistol grip shotty could wait since I had the 38. Although I did only have one box of shells for it.

It was pretty much a straight shot right on through. Up until we were about twenty miles from Vegas, even in the new 'panic on the freeway' world we lived in, it wasn't any worse than rush hour for a medium sized city. We rarely needed to slow under 50 and didn't need to stop at all.

About thirty miles outside Vegas we started seeing gridlock on the other side. But it didn't affect us for another ten miles as things started to really thicken up.

I called Dice's phone to give us a chance to discuss what we were going to do. We both put our phones on speaker again, so the four of us could all participate.

"Alright guys," I said. "Now you've had a chance to think about this afternoon, and we're getting close to Vegas and Peezy.  
This is a new world. You have the guns for a reason. You have those machetes for a reason. And it's not to look cool, or to feel like The Crushinator. It's to kill. specifically the dead. specifically to stop zombies permanently.  
But it's not just the deadheads, guys. Can you kill anyone who is not one of us who stands in our way?"

Dice sounded nervous when he asked, "What do you mean Sam?"

"I mean this is still in the early panic stages. we are going in to fetch Peezy, Bunny, and Mindy. There will be zombies who must be stopped. But there's probably going to be more people who have bad intentions and a pulse. Especially in a place like this. This is a everyone for themselves, kinda shady place. A place where people are nervous and scared. A place that is not the safest place on earth on the best of days, in the middle of the initial freakout of the dead coming back to attack and bite the living it's going to be chaos. And violent dangerous chaos at that. I don't know whether they are eating us as well or if the runners are eating the living while the shufflers are just biting. I'm guessing the bacteria or virus or tiny aliens or whatever this is just wants to spread. I think they are much more likely to bite than eat.  
But, I'm babbling. What we need to know is are you ready and willing to kill? Kill the dead and kill the living to get in and out safely.  
This includes security, cops, and military. This includes anyone. Women, children, little girls. If they are in the way and you tell them to move you do not give them a second chance. If they are armed and threatening you, do not give them a first chance.  
I need your honest opinion. Your honest commitment on this. Because I do not want to bring you in there if you are just going to freeze. That would endanger you and it would endanger us. I'd rather you circle around the city and wait in some rest area on the other side than come with us if you're going to just endanger yourself. It's really gonna burn my chizz if just Cat and I have to go to save this guy after you guys being a big reason why we took this on at all."

Goomer sounded really weird. Haunted and about to cry. "I am not killing any living people. I killed a man once. That still gives me nightmares. I'm so ashamed."

Dice clarified. "Goomer killed a man in the ring. He almost quit fighting. He was in grief counseling for six months. It was during, and possibly because of, one of his self abusing emotional turmoils that his last manager said he was too stupid to manage. But I know he can kill zombies and kill them well. He has hunted alligators and pumas in the swamp as well as deer, squab and pheasant. We've been discussing it a lot as we drove." Dice said.

I motioned with my hand for Cat to listen closely.

Dice continued. "I get it that you're nervous. But think for a second about how nervous we are. You have been killing zombies and perhaps others all day. We haven't. So I will say this. Goomer is your man as long as they were dead first. As for me, I will try. Deaders and live enemies both. I believe I can do it. But I just don't know. No guarantees. Is that good enough?"  
I thought for a minute. I knew what I wanted to say. But I had to be honest. "No. I wish it was Dice, but I cannot put both mine and Cat's life on the line."

"Stop Momma," Cat said, laying her fingers on my wrist. Interrupting me with a gentle touch. "We do not have the luxury of sending Dice and Goomer off someplace safe. There is no place safe. I'm having second thoughts about putting our lives in danger for Peezy B of all people. But it's a lesson. While I am not going to vote again to risk those we love for people we barely know. I do believe that once we say we're going to help we have to do it. Which means all of us.  
But Sam is right about one thing boys; if you choke, the best we'll be able to do is kill you quick so they don't get you. We can't lose two of us trying to save a third who is frozen into an anchor dragging us down. I love you boys. Dice you've been like a... I don't know, little cousin to me. Ever since Nona started babysitting you when you were one. But we just can't. It's worse than a jungle out there, it's a zombie jungle."

I pulled up the Vegas strip on my pear phone. It took me a few minutes to find a traffic site that was completely computerized, naturally none that had a human element had been updated since this morning. But the one that just showed by color code the amount of traffic I knew was just hooked up to sensors on the street so it automatically updated in real time.

I was pretty sure Peezy said they were in the Imperial Suite at Uncle Puffy's new place The Puff Palace. I was able to sort out a way that would get us there without touching any of the gridlocked sections.

I was honestly concerned that in a city this size, dealing with this kind of apocalypse level chizz, those streets that were totally locked down would remain locked down until long after mankind loses its hold as the dominant species.

I gave Peezy a call just to be completely certain we were going to the right place before we committed. I was also thinking just because they weren't locked yet any of these streets could become a parking lot in moments.

Peezy answered with a scream. "Aaaahhhooh, Puckett you gotta save me. They got Bunny, Puckett. They stabbed him in his belly an' he died. Oohh Puckett, where are ya?"

"We're just about to get to the Puff Palace and I need your room number." I said.

"Oh, we aren't there Puckett. You see I drank all the jonjer ale in the minibar in my room. And room service said they were gonna be two hours. Didn't they know I'm Peezy B? That's what I say to them. I say, 'Don't you even know I'm Peezy B?'. Uncle Puffy is my actual uncle. But they didn't care. They said Uncle Puffy said I was stupid and he wishes his sister, my mama, never even had no kids. So I hung up on them to teach them a lesson. But then when I called back they didn't even answer at all."

"Cool story, Peezy. But where are ya?" I said as soon as I could get a word in.

"We left the hotel and there were dead folks walking around Puckett." Peezy B said.

"Like I said there were, Peezy. Like you said there were when you called me the first time. You knew exactly what was out there." I said.

"And there were live people going around with guns. Ya see, Bunny had a gun and I have Bunny's gun. But I don't know nothin about shootin no guns, Puckett." Peezy whined.

"But you said you knew everything." I said. Peezy was constantly talking about how he knew everything there was to know about guns.

"I lied, Puckett. I lied." Peezy said, clearly crying.

"Yes, okay. I can see that. But where are you?" I asked, hopefully for the last time.

"We're under the city, Puckett. Bunny led us down here. He said it'd be safer then he got bellystabbed and left me to manage by myself in the damn sewer. I don't know where I am." I heard a girls voice. "Wait, Puckett. Mindy said to go on Zapface and pin my location. Go on Zapface, Puckett. I'm gonna pin my location. Then you come get me, Puckett. I'm not kidding you now."

"I'd be getting you now, if you had stayed in your room like I told you." I said.

"That's not funny, Puckett. Come get me." Peezy said and hung up.

When I went on Zapface it had Peezy at Fort Broadway. The new megahotel complex whose investors thought a mashup of wild west frontier and all the big musicals of the last century somehow went well together.

Of course Peezy and Mindy would be under the hotel in the catacombs of storm drains. Lucky for them, and us, it wasn't sewers no matter what Peezy thought. The sewers were huge pipes even farther down.

When we rallied on the side of the road, beside a manhole Goomer had pried open; Cat brought up some bad news. "Things just got worse gang, but we have to stay strong. Stay hard."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The people down there are even more likely to still be alive then the people up here. So we probably won't be dealing with zombies. But they are desperate people who through bad luck and poor decisions have ended up having to live in the storm drains. These are mostly good people pooped on by circumstance. For many of them the downfall of civilization is a blessing. Anarchy is the great equalizer. Some of those people will be leaving the tunnels in a day or two and moving into houses, apartments, homes of some sort anyway. Maybe here in the city or more likely some adjoining unincorporated area.

If they can defend those homes and make a life, they can truly change their fortunes. But that day is not today. Today they are down in the drains with my friend Mindy and also Peezy B. They are probably panicking just as much as up here. Or more because down there it's a bit scarier, certainly darker and because it's underground tunnels, chock full of blind alleys and places someone could get trapped. Now we all go in there guns clearly visible. We get who we came for and get out. If they see four of us in a group, all holding guns, I hope they will realize we aren't bothering anyone who isn't bothering us. And we are immediately killing anyone who does. It is not hard to decide which side you want to be on."

Cat and Dice both carried shotguns because in point blank range their blast to recoil ratio was incomparable. You also didn't need to be the best aim to be able to take someone out with them. Goomer found a Remington pump action rifle in the foot locker it used 30-06 ammunition and could probably kill five zombies in a shot if you could get them to stand in a line. I just used the revolver. It had almost the stopping power of Goomer's rifle and I wanted to get more practice with it.

I took my pickhammer in the other hand. Cat had her spear and the boys each had a machete. I grabbed the 9 mil at the last second and tucked it into the back of my pants. Just in case an extra was needed. and if not Peezy had said he had Bunny's gun. But Mindy needed one.

At least until we were less likely to run into hostile living people than dead people, everyone in our party carried a gun. Guns existed to make killing easy and that was the priority in the post-apocalypse chaos we were traveling through.

Once we were in the drainage tunnels, the first time we went around a corner we were met by two guards with rifles. "You can't bring weapons in here." One said.

Cat replied. "We don't want any trouble. We've come to collect my friend and her employer who ran down here to hide. If you just allow us to pop in and pop out we will take care of business and be gone, easy as you please. However, if you don't allow us to do what we need to, you will find it's the two of you against the four of us. And we are quite prepared to let this get out of hand."

The guard smiled humorlessly. "Do you honestly think in these tunnels that we would only post people where you could see them?" But then he thought better of his attitude I suppose because he sighed and said, "Who have you come for?"

"Peezy B." Cat said, as the guards burst out laughing.

"More like Pussy B. 'Do you know who I am?' 'Do you know who my uncle is?' 'You're gonna be sorry when Puckett gets here.' Never have I heard a grown man whine so much." The other guard said.

"Well Puckett's here now." I said. "So it's up to you. Do you let us collect our Pussy Boy. Or do we prove Peezy right and I make you sorry." I was at the end of my rope and I was already kinda wishing I had just shot them immediately, like I had with the cops this morning.

But I didn't have the excuse of they would never believe the truth and listen to reason. Plus I really felt I at least needed to experiment with reasoning with people for Cat's sake. She had something in her that had an issue with my version of self preservation that didn't take the value of an outsider's life into consideration at all. So I was trying it her way, once. But this wasn't a game, this was for the safety of the woman who was my life; and to a lesser extent myself and our friends. If these two balked for another thirty seconds I would open a hole in each of their heads and not even try it this way again for a good long time.

They used up twenty of the thirty more seconds I'd given them and then they tried to push their luck still further. "You say you're no danger to this place or the people who live here. You say you just want to get your friends and leave. And I believe you, mostly. But we need collateral. You leave the kid with us and he gives us his gun and sits quietly. The rest of you do what you need. You leave here peacefully, pick him up on your way out and it's a done deal."

"No. Followed by fuck no. This boy is my friend and my I am not leaving him unarmed at the mercy of strangers. The world doesn't work like that anymore." I said

Dice looked shocked. "Sam, what's it matter? In the time we've argued it could be done and we could be done and on our way back to the cars. I'll wait with them. It's not-" and the entire side of his head disappeared in a red cloud of chunky mist.

Goomer's face went some weird mix of dead and determined and he lifted his rifle to his eye and shot in the direction where the shot that killed his little buddy had originated. I didn't see his target because of the dim halls of the tunnels and because it was behind me and to the left. By the time I turned around it was obviously long over. But since he didn't take another shot I assumed he hit it.

"He was just a little boy." Goomer said softly as his intent emotionless eyes scanned the shadows. He fired another shot and followed it with an echo of, "Little boy." And then with a final shot, uphill into a tunnel that ran up and to the left he made a final reiteration of, "A little boy."

While Goomer made his first shot. I opened a hole in the one closest to me and Cat fired her shotgun near point blank range into the crotch of the guard who'd done most the talking. Not an instant kill but I think she got both femoral arteries. He'd bleed out fairly quickly. And it should have come as no surprise that Cat was a 'shoot 'em in the junk' kinda girl.

Goomer started walking off in the direction the original guards had indicated we would find Peezy B.

It became quite a different scene then originally thought or planned. Goomer seemed to be mumbling 'Just a little boy.' Over and over to himself in a sad, soft, lost, little voice; as he walked along looking at the world past a rifle sight.

Cat, who was weeping silently, was also shouting, "Drop your weapons. Turn and face the wall if you want to live. If you know where Peezy B is point in that direction as you face the wall. If you look at us, we will kill you. If you have a weapon in your hand, we will kill you. If you move suddenly in any direction. We. Will. Kill you."

And they did, her and Goomer. Everyone who so much as glanced at us was shot. I picked up Dice's gun and put my pickhammer in my belt.

The two of them had things covered. I didn't fire my gun again. Although Goomer killed five people and Cat killed four. The worst I did is a little girl about eight came running at us with a butcher knife and I laid the barrel of Dice's gun across her face. Nowhere near as hard as I could, not even enough to crack her cheekbone or knock her out. Just an offhanded flick, enough to split her cheek and knock her to the ground. "Someone stop her," I said to no one in particular. "If she comes at me again, I'm gonna shoot her.

She didn't come at me again. In fact there wasn't a whole lot more excitement.

At least until we heard Peezy calling me and followed the whining to find Peezy on the ground and Mindy standing on his hand saying. "I have tried to be respectful of you Mister B. I put up with a lot of foolishness. Because you are clearly a spoiled child. But just as clearly a spoiled child who honestly wants to be nice and have people like him. Your insistence that you know best, when you clearly don't, got Bunny killed. Now hand me Bunny's gun so I can actually protect us versus you who will either get us killed or kill us yourself."

"Give her the gun Peezy." I said.

Peezy was struggling. Struggling awfully hard to have a hundred and twenty pound girl on his hand and be unable to shake her. "You're fired Mindy, that tea you gave me wasn't even very good. Until I had the idea to drink it cold and put sugar and lemon in it."

"Iced tea with sugar and lemon; you really are one of the great minds of our time," Mindy said.

Goomer pulled his machete out. "Just hold his hand there with your foot Miss Mindy." He said. "I'll have it off at the wrist in just a minute. Then you can have the gun and we'll leave Mister B here to bleed out or whatever he wants to do."

"That's cruel Goomer. You know he couldn't make it on his own. Especially without a hand or a gun. Just shoot him." I said.

Peezy was looking really scared and just when he was starting to stammer out an offer of money he didn't realize was now useless, a louder voice drowned him out.

"Attention squatters. You are in violation of Nevada State ordinance. This area has been identified as a high risk area due to it's abundant cover and multiple access points. Once inside the area the infection would spread exponentially faster. Any individuals that do not depart immediately, peacefully with your hands in clear sight will be assumed to be infected and will be destroyed. All of you who depart as stated, I guarantee you will not be harmed. File out peacefully and onto the buses that are waiting for you. You will be transported to a secure location where you can be quarantined and observed. If you show no signs of infection after 48 hours you will be released."

"Okay now we all enjoyed threatening Peezy." I said. "But time for that is gone. Peezy you take Dice's gun. You don't need to aim a shotty. Give Bunny's gun to Mindy and it looks like we are fighting our way out." I said.

Peezy started to argue and I said. "Shut up. You are not the boss here. It goes me, Cat, Goomer, Mindy, you. It shouldn't be hard to remember that. You are the lowest. The least. The last. That's got a good rhythm to it maybe you can write a song about it when this is over."

I led them back to the main tunnel and discovered that the army men, or whatever, were actually not in the 'main' tunnel we'd entered through, but an even larger one that ran parallel.

So we might be able to sneak down our tunnel and not have to fight at this point at all. I pulled up a map of the storm drains on my pear phone. I could see where if we took a left and cut across we would hit the upward slope one that Goomer had shot one of the guards in after they killed Dice.

If we walked up for about a block it would lead us to an offshoot where if we were slick and sneaky we could just walk along seven feet below the sidewalk and just peek out of the drainage gap next to the corners.  
The first one we found with no military presence we would sneak out and come back to the cars on surface streets. Probably walk through the hotel's parking lot so no one would get suspicious.

Once we were up just below surface level it was quite a nice walk. The tunnel was like a concrete hallway, just a little wider than the sidewalk, it broadened into a little concrete room at every intersection with four foot long six inch high slits; one at each corner that would let the rain in.  
Rain, when it came at all in a desert, tended to come all at once. The ground, unused to absorbing it, tended to flood. It was even worse in a city where most the ground was paved over. So they needed storm drains to take it away. The tunnels were dry most of the year, cooler than the surface and surprisingly clean. I could definitely see why people with few other choices would see living down here as the best option.

At each intersection, Goomer as the tallest would stand on the bottom rung of the ladder and peek out of the drainage slits. It was only about a quarter of a mile when he said he saw nothing. It was at an intersection with another tunnel so just to be on the safe side, we walked another block down that way. To avoid a straight view if there was a soldier stationed with binoculars watching the street.

We didn't know how far the observation net might be spread so when I suggest we send Peezy up first to look around, Mindy said she didn't trust him not to just run for it and volunteered.

She just grabbed the lip of the drainage slit and shinnied up and out.

A moment later she shouted down. "Finally some luck gang, This isn't even really a street, it's the delivery entrance for the Metropolis Hotel. No visible traffic, the only visible people are at least five hundred yards away. The only drawback is there is no cover whatsoever we're coming out of a storm drain in the middle of a giant driveway with nothing else around. But it's worth two minutes of conspicuousness, I think."

We all agreed. Since Goomer was very possibly too big to slip out the drain and would have to lift the manhole cover anyway, we decided to just let him do it and we all just followed him up the ladder.

When we reached the top we saw what she was talking about. The huge hotel across a sea of asphalt. Cars and even some visible people surrounded it. There were some palm trees planted along this road, but none really anywhere near where we were. Safe it seemed. No one near or seeming toi pay any attention to us. But definitely conspicuous.

As Goomer replaced the manhole cover a hotel shuttle turned onto our road and flashed it's lights at us.

"We all have guns, even if he does as well I don't see any reason not to see what he wants." Cat said. "even if we ran or whatever, there's nothing around here, he can easily catch up to us."

It ended up being a young guy in an empty shuttle. He wore cheap badly fitting suit and his long hair was pushed up into a plain black baseball cap. "I knew it, I knew it. It's Peezy B. What's up Peezy? What you doin' way out here?"

"Trying to get out of this God forsaken place before I end up zombie chow, my brother." Peezy said, trying to turn on the charm. "Now any chance you can give us a ride over to Fort Broadway. That's where we left our cars before we went into the drains to get away from this gang of deadies. Must have been a hundred of them or at least twenty or ten. We were able to shoot them all once we got them in a small place down there. But now we gotta get back so we can blow outta this popstand."

I would have thought that he looked like a fool, but I knew him. This guy looked pretty starstruck. "Of course Peezy. Absolutely. You guys get right in."

We loaded into the van. It didn't even take five minutes even with traffic. When the driver saw the military was stopping everyone he told us to stow our guns under the seats and we'd get right through. He'd say we were guests of the hotel and he was taking us to the airport.

We waited our turn in line. It didn't take long. I don't know what they were checking for. Maybe the bureaucracy hadn't worked out that zombies lacked the muscle control to drive a car. Even the runners. Not to mention the mental competence.

Then it was our turn and the driver rolled his window down, letting the desert wind steal our air-conditioned cool.

"Afternoon officer," The driver said, although I was pretty sure you called military men 'soldier' when you didn't know their rank. "I heard over the radio you were looking for Peezy B and his entourage, who were reported as potentially hazardous by homeless rounded up out of the drainage tunnels."


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as the driver had betrayed us, Sam had put two bullets in the back of his head and two more in the soldier's face. We had all stowed our guns out of sight when we saw the checkpoint, but apparently my Sammy still had the nine millimeter in the back of her pants.

We all reclaimed our firearms in the confusion and we were able to take care of any soldiers or police in our direct area, but we still had to get out past their compatriots who were understandably perturbed.

Suddenly Peezy was babbling and begging for a second chance. He said he had filled his biography with lies and half truths, to sound more gangsta. Which had become obvious. Now he claimed that while he'd never touched a gun until today, he had actually been a getaway driver for local toughs for two years.  
Once he was given permission, he pushed the body out the door and took his place.

He was exactly what he claimed, surprisingly. He could drive fast, confidently and well enough to spin circles around the soldiers. Sam, Goomer and Mindy were shooting, and even me when I thought I could hit something. Peezy loudly announced what we needed to do as far as leaning around sharp turns and when to pause because he was gonna do something crazy.

He got us to the car and because of that we agreed that he would drive Goomer's car while Goomer and Mindy would shoot. Sam and I would follow behind, with me driving and Sam shooting cleanup.

It would have probably worked if the military was satisfied just having superior numbers, but they also had superior firepower. So when a tank fired on them, we lost Peezy's face and Goomer's car. Luckily it was directly on Peezy's side, so Goomer himself was able to escape with only minor injuries and save Mindy as well. She was a little more banged and blasted up. But nothing that required medical attention.

Goomer just dragged the foot locker with one hand and Mindy with the other. He lobbed grenade after grenade. I assume figuring, correctly, that all weapons are replaceble and its better to deplete your entire supply saving yourself, because even the best weapon is useless without a person.

The four of us managed to make the drive to Washington alive. We were able to deal with any hazards we faced together and were even able to stay on the freeway at all times, except getting gas.

We remained in contact with our friends all along the way. An hour before we met up, Tori said that Freddie's mom, Mrs Benson, was going crazy because they only had one gun.  
Tori's father, the cop, Jade's private instructors and Mrs. Benson's shadowy doings in the Far East in her youth; left three of them capable of handling a firearm but only one pistol to split between them.  
On the other hand, they had only seen two zombies in total so far, so the concern was mainly theoretical. But I told Tori we had plenty of weapons to go around for now and would be able to get more once we were all together.

Yet, only an hour later, when we rolled into the campsite, the clearing was swarmed with at least twenty dead, and those were just the ones still upright. Carly, Tori, and Jade were up a tree with Mrs Benson, who was now a runner, jumping and growling at them like an over excited dog.

We waded in guns blazing and quickly decimated the pack.  
It wasn't until we got them cleared away that we saw that Spencer was on the ground where they were standing. I didn't recognize him at first. But between Carly and Sam's reaction it was pretty clear.

Carly was shattered. Not too big of a surprise. She was closer to him than any of us were to anyone we had lost so far.  
Plus she hadn't seen him in a year. A year filled with scheduled visits that something always came up. And now a week after they are reunited, he dies horribly right in front of her. I could see how it even put my chiz in perspective.

So Sam took Carly in Jade's car to talk. While Goomer drove Spencer's friend Socko's RV with the rest of us in it.  
We drove back to a motel we'd passed by the freeway. It seemed empty and abandoned. But recently, because of the apocalypse, so it was still nice.  
We took five rooms, all the rooms along one side. We just walked into the office grabbed the five closest to where we parked and moved in. Carly on one side of us then Goomer, then Mindy, with Tori and Jade on the end.

* * *

I was thrilled beyond words to finally be in a safe clean space with a bed with my Sammy-lamb. I didn't even wait until the door was closed before I was on her. My arms around her, my lips seeking hers. Kissing her passionately, greedily. Needing her. My tongue finding hers as I hooked the door closed with my foot. My hands already busy getting her jeans undone. Pulling them off and looking at the holey sky blue boxers I'd tried to throw away three times.

Sometimes my lover was maddeningly boylike.

Not even boylike, manlike. No boy our age would ever take such an aggressive disinterest in how he looked. Because he'd never get a girl being a slob.  
Sam had the 'who cares' attitude of a man who'd gotten married and let himself go. Luckily she made worn old clothes sexy, and her version of letting herself go looked charmingly tousled.

When her shirt was off her bra matched her boxers, except it was new. Holey boxers so worn they were almost seethrough were one thing. But holey bras tended to get traveling underwires that stabbed her and I wouldn't put up with that.

Not that it mattered because in my excitement I had those off in a moment. A flurry of scurrying eager fingers and I was looking at my naked goddess. My mouth watering over her full, firm, round breasts and her delightful honeypot covered in fur the perfect golden color that made the euphemism also an apt description in this case.

I brought my lips to hers again, as my hand cupped and began to rub her furry cleft.  
It was hot and damp and turned me on so much it was only a moment before I felt compelled to drop to my knees and kiss her and taste her there.  
Licking her around the edges, feeling her soft fuzzy hair on my face. It turned me on so much.  
Her taste and scent. The feel of her fluffy, curly, soft pubes and her tender sweet flesh.

My tongue lapping and licking at her.

"Mmmmmmhmm," I moaned in the back of my throat, tasting her after feeling so hungry for her for so long.  
Maybe not 'so long' by someone else's clock, but Sam and I made love a lot.  
Because I needed it. I needed the closeness the warm and safe feeling.  
Especially in today's world, I needed the life affirming energy surrounding me.

I scooted a little closer to my sweetheart. I knew I would want to lay her down and properly kiss and lick her deeply. But at the moment I was pleased to kneel before her and lick her where she stood. My strong expressive lips massaging, kissing, and caressing the fleshy petals of my darling's love orchid. Her full plush lips were just begging to be kissed, her love dew begging to be licked and savored.

I licked and kissed her there, my hands running over every inch of her body I could reach. But eventually I knew that I not only wanted more thorough access, but I also knew Sam couldn't allow herself to cum truly hard because her legs would go weak and she would drop on top of me.

I stood up and kissed her mouth while my hands groped and caressed her. "To the bed, milady?" I asked.

"Indeed my love." Sam responded.

I settled my love goddess in our big, soft, comfy bed and had just gotten out of my clothes when there was a knock at the door.

It was Carly, in tears. "It just hit me that Spencer's gone forever. He died right in front of me and there was nothing I could do."

This started me crying about Nona and Dice. "I know, Carly, I know." Which is certainly less specific than I normally like to be, but it was all I could get out.

When I wrapped my arms around her, she stiffened, presumably because I was naked. But her emotional needs won out over her puritan ideals and she melted against me, crying.

Sam left us crying in each others arms for a moment. But as soon as she realized it wasn't just a momentary loss of composure, she was right there embracing both of us. "C'mon to bed kids. It's late and Carly, there is no way you're going to be alone tonight."

"But you guys obviously want to be alone." Carly said.

"We have the rest of our life to be alone." Sam said.

"You're Sam's best friend, which means you're my best friend. If Jade lost Tori and came to us in tears you better believe she'd be spending the night cuddled between us." I said, as I began to lead her to the bed.

Carly paused. You could almost see her thinking of the idea that a night cuddled between two naked girls would have an appeal to Jade that it wouldn't have to her. Then I could see her realize we would think that was homophobic if she said it. Followed immediately by the realization that it was homophobic. We hadn't mentioned sex of any kind and she knew both of us well enough to know we'd put something on if she asked and she knew as well as anyone that nudity didn't equal sex.

Then she started to strip down herself. I don't know whether it was some odd politeness thing, that if we were going to be naked, she'd be naked too. Or if she realized that while cuddling naked didn't have to be sexual, it was certainly intimate and she actually needed and wanted that intimacy.

Sam was clearly shocked and almost said something, but I caught her eye and gave my head a small but unmistakable shake.

We were in unexplored territory. All of us seemed to be just rolling with it and trusting each other.  
But I knew questioning Carly was the worst thing Sam could do right now. She was overwrought and out of her element. I could almost guarantee she felt very unsure of herself and her role in whatever this was. And if Sam implied she also was questioning what Carly was doing here. Everything would screech to an awkward and embarrassed halt.

I put Carly to bed as she undressed, making it very obvious I was not gawking at her. But obviously I was sneaking a peek. I am completely satisfied with my Sammy-lamb and Carly was her best friend, practically her sister. But I was curious.

Speaking of sisters, even though they are twins, I would jump at a chance to see Melanie naked. Just out of curiosity.

So of course I peeked at Carly.  
And I was not ashamed that, from an aesthetic viewpoint I liked what I saw. Carly is a very pretty girl and she has a lovely body. I have been in enough steamrooms and locker rooms to know not all thin girls have nice bodies. But Carly had full firm breasts in the size just a bit bigger than mine. About the size of Tori's actually. But while Tori's were more teardrop shaped, Carly's were more chocolate kiss shaped.  
I could also say Tori's are like Sam's but a size smaller and mine are like Carly's but half a size smaller.

Carly's were also like mine in that they were very pale olive with darker brown nipples.  
But, where my nips were a medium pinky strawberry brown. Carlys were smaller with almost no aureole to speak of but the nipple itself was like a dark chocolate chip perched on the tip of her caramel marshmallow puff breasts.

I think her original plan was to leave her tiny, cute, magenta t-back panties on. Because she left them on when she got into bed.

Then, with a visible shrug, she pulled them off and tossed them onto her small pile of clothes. Revealing an adorable little carly patch. Her pubes were soft and full and dark but only in a little v above the slit with the sides and the area around her lips shaved smooth. I could see just a bit of fleshy fullness when she moved to settle in more comfortably. Nowhere near the beautiful orchid-like blossom Sam had, but a bit more lippiness than I carried.

Sam rolled over and spooned Carly on one side and I got in on the other. We cuddled her between us.

Carly was facing me and I was holding her pressed to me our bodies pressed together from the shoulder,, across our breasts and down our tummies. Our hips and thighs touched but a girl's playful place is tucked away rather tidily so they don't just randomly brush against things like a boy's business would. So I entwined myself quite lovingly against her but I didn't touch her there except the occasional brush past the edges because I would have had to touch her with intent to really get a feel of that area and that was not my goal. Sam spooned against her back and both mine and my lover's stroking comforting hands touched and comforted each other as much as Carly between us.

In a different world Sam would have been the better choice to be face to face with our sweet Miss Shay. They were so much closer, so the role that was more engaged and face to face was hers by right and reason.  
It's just I was crying as well, I had initiated the hug that started this and Sam was more the silent comforting strength type so as her entire body braced against Carly's back and enveloped her and her arms went all the way around and embraced both of us.

Unlike Sam, I most definitely am a hugger. I am also a kisser.  
Every friend I have, that I honestly consider a friend, has been kissed on the cheek or forehead many times by me.  
Jade as my best friend, has been kissed and caressed by me almost as thoroughly as Sam has. And certainly to a degree that an outsider would think she was my girlfriend.  
It's been dialed back considerably since we both now had jealous girlfriends but because of our closeness I still kissed both Jade and Tori on the lips regularly.

I have been known to kiss them with unhurried, even lingering kisses where my lips were closed but not tightly closed, sometimes parted, in situations where I was comforting them lovingly in times of stress. So it was not unusual to me that I did the same to Carly. Kissed all over her face, kissing her tears away. Initially including kisses on the lips, but were really everywhere on her face.  
As she calmed down, they became just cheeks and lips.

Sam obviously knew what I was doing and approved, in fact I was also kissing her over Carly's shoulder every once in a while throughout. I think it was this combined with the facts that I clearly wasn't trying to french her and it was comforting, were the reasons that after stiffening in surprise the first few times I did it, Carly relaxed and began kissing me back. Initially just when I kissed her lips but eventually she was kissing my cheeks and face as well.

Sam was behind her so her kisses of comfort fell on Carly's neck and shoulders and a few on the back of her head. However her hands and arms were just as much in play as mine were though. She stroked down Carly's sides, caressing her soothingly as well as petting and patting me.

After about ten minutes of kissing and communing with me, Carly rolled over.  
I think it was a mix of wanting to share face to face with Sam, the woman in this world she was closest to, plus now that we had been at it for a little while Sam herself was more relaxed and affectionate.

This was about friendship, comfort and affection. And I wasn't trying to make it anything else, but I am a naughty little slut by nature so if I 'accidentally' made sure my hand was in the right place to be sandwiched between Sam and Carly's boobs when they embraced no one can say it was a big deal.

Just like I didn't think it was a big deal when one of their chaste loving kisses suddenly went au francais. I knew they had a little bit of a history where at the very least Sam once thought she was in love with Carly. And if Carly was in a place where she craved intimacy so deeply she was kissing me like she had just been, it was no surprise that she would take it to the next step with a girl who had been her best friend for more than half her life.

Especially since this was not desperate greedy frenching, this was the kissing equivalent of making love. Slow and sensual and all about sharing and giving.  
Far more about love and intimacy and being together than any carnal desire.

I not only didn't feel jealous, I feel comfortable saying I couldn't feel jealous. This was not three girls in a bed, this was something Sam and I as a couple were giving to Carly as a single girl we loved.  
It's just at this point Sam was facing her, kissing and caressing her. While I supported and consoled her with my body pressed to her back and my hands touching and caressing her.

Then Sam kissed me over Carly's shoulder as we both held her and I was reminded of an anecdote I'd read in this swinger woman's biography.  
Even if I don't have the least interest in following in their footsteps, I am endlessly fascinated by people's stories of their experiences. Especially sexual experiences.  
Both because of natural curiosity and because I knew that someone like me; who was so highly sexed and slutty my life had more crazy sex stories than a box of pornos, yet I am so monogamous I barely even look at other people; was incredibly unusual and it made me all the more interested academically in other people who didn't fit societies 'norms'.

Now this swinger lady talked about this time when she was with a couple who'd been married for thirty years. And even though they mostly just had sex with each other with her in the bed, they still made her feel so included and accepted that she felt it was one of the most comforting, loving, beautiful experiences of her life. And it really gave her a glimpse into what living with that kind of love was like and while she felt it was too much for what she wanted in her life; she could definitely see how for a more pair-bondy person than herself that sort of one true love thing was beautiful and empowering.

I knew Carly had a lot of angst around the fact that she had not found someone that special. And the worst thing I could do was trigger jealousy of Sam and my happiness. But it really seemed like we had gotten off to a good start and if we took it slow without any kind of agenda for what needed to happen or how and didn't push anything at all we might be able to create a similarly beautiful experience in Carly's life.

But I knew myself and what a hornkitten I was.

I had no real streak of exhibitionism. But I also had little shame, now that Sam had rescued me from being the fearbunny my brother had turned me into.  
Its not like it would turn me on specially to have Carly in the bed while we had sex.  
But it also wouldn't detract from it and I really wanted to make love to my sweetheart. I just knew I wasn't a good judge of appropriateness where this was concerned.  
I would just have to be careful to be aware my default position would always be trying to move any situation in the direction of Sam and I making love and just be hypervigilant to whether or not Sam or Carly seemed uncomfortable.

Now I know how you touch someone when you are trying to comfort someone and emotionally nurture them. And I know how to touch someone when you are trying to get something going. And I knew I could move effortlessly from one to the other.  
I also knew that lots of people have the 'one night only' experience with a friend they are trying to comfort and connect with when it just organically moves from sensual to sexual in action without necessarily changing intent.

That was the move that I was considering. I was thinking of a threesome of a sort, but not the kind written of in magazines. Or even the playful times we'd had with Jade and Tori. Where those were intended to be meaningless fun, I wanted this to me a time of connection and comfort that may not ever pass the divider line from sensual to sexual. When Sam and Carly's kisses included the use of tongue it had crossed the line of even the most liberal use of the word chaste. Not that any of us would have ever used that word anyway.

My strokes up and down Carly's sides and over to Sam stopped being simply comforting, petting, strokes and became a bit more massagey. But also more touchy. I began to touch them with a taking touch.  
A massage concept possibly originating in Tantric massage, possibly only erroneously attributed to that.  
The idea was you could never know what someone else was feeling. So to touch them trying to make them feel good is always a tricky proposition. But if you touch them with a taking touch like you would touch silk or a bunny. Touching them to feel them. The difference will come through in what they feel and will communicate an unspoken openness to their body that will cause it to be open to you in return.

Almost immediately there was a subtle but tangible change. Within moments Sam and Carly had moved from two friends kissing that happened to include tongues to the two of them making out. With the little sighs, satisfied hums, and back of the throat moans all included. Just as suddenly they were not holding each other but groping and grinding together, even though the actual movement had so far only increased infinitesimally it was only the intent, the vibe, that changed.  
Because of that I absolutely felt a part of it. Because it was my touching of both of them and how I touched them that was responsible for the change in the air.

When I dialed it back. Suddenly their embrace was just as intimate, just as loving. But no longer as palpably carnal.

How quickly things changed and the direction of that change made it pretty clear that if I took things this way it would be more of a standard threeway than I originally pictured. But that was acceptable to me. Just surprising.

It shouldn't have surprised me, if I was the one in control of the energy. As Sam liked to say I was the fuckiest little fucker she'd ever met.

So as the two of them kissed and groped a little and I groped both of them while sometimes kissing Sam over Carly's shoulder. Sometimes kissing and sucking on Carly's neck.

But now that I'd given myself permission to have this go that way; my natural curiosity and my natural horniness took over.

I moved my leg off of Carly.  
Before, I had her in a full body hug with my arms and my legs wrapped around her. I shifted myself and where my top arm was stroking her side and squeezing and stroking Sam and my lower arm was touching and rubbing her back; now, the top arm continued but the lower arm started venturing down and stroking over Carly's bottom and on her thighs. Then slowly centering in to just up one inner thigh and down the other.

Carly made a moaning sound in the back of her throat and shifted her weight, opening her legs. I moved my palm in, rubbing her inner thighs, exerting gentle pressure opening her legs still further. Until I had them open far enough to get my hand through there, I cupped her from behind, my whole hand over her, squeezing and stroking her. Rubbing Sam as well with the back of my hand.

Then, since Sam was not only the one I wanted, but also I really didn't think Carly would go for me trying something too intrusive this early, I laid my hand flat. My fingers began tickling around the edges of Sam's slit while my wrist was pressed flat against the same area of Carly, rubbing her and giving some stimulation while making it perfectly clear I wouldn't be trying to go inside.

The thread of tension I felt in Carly's body, that began when I cupped her, immediately released. Apparently she didn't know what to expect, but this was acceptable. She even started to ride my wrist a little and grind against me.

Sam and Carly continued to kiss and rub against each other while I fingered my lover and stimulated her best friend with my wrist.

As I felt Sam's muscles start to flex and spasm as she came I sucked on Carly's neck and the back of her shoulder and pressed against her in such a way as to bring about at least a small orgasm. Probably helped a lot by the stimulation caused by Sam clearly having a big powerful one while kissing and groping her.

And those orgasms were the key. That really opened things up. I guess laying that foundation of love and comfort and friendship, combined with the very human urge to do something life affirming when faced with all this death, allowed us to move this in a direction no one would have expected.

Then Carly moved her hand down to Sam's pussy and suddenly my fingers within my sweetheart were no longer in there alone.

As Carly Shay fingered her best friend, She didn't do it tentatively. It wasn't something she did because she felt she was supposed to or because she was just going along with what we started. For whatever reason Carly had clearly decided to fuck Sam and had fully committed to that decision. And it wasn't just Sam, as she frenched and fingered my beloved, she would grind her bottom back against me moaning softly in her throat.

I, in turn, did exactly what I did to Sam when she did that, and began to thrust my hips against her and brought my fingers out of Sam. I moved my arm around into the gap between them.

Carly had shifted so she was no longer pressed flat against Sam since she needed to get her arm between them and get access to Sammy-lamb's puckett patch.

If I'd continued to try to pleasure my sweet lover I would have had to coordinate with Carly so as not to be getting in each others way. But I felt that my efforts would be better directed to reach my hand around and rub Carly's slit and clitty button while I pounded my hips against her bottom.

I could tell they were both building toward orgasm.  
Carly and Sam stopped kissing and Sam and I began a long, slow, deep, hot kiss over Carly's shoulder as Carly fingered Sam and I rubbed Carly with my fingers and hand and thrust my hips against her.

As the wave of their orgasm, which we seemed to be getting pretty simultaneous, crested; I broke my kiss with my sweet Sammy and let her connect again with Carly's lips so they could moan their orgasm into each other's mouths. Which made it so much hotter, I knew from experience.

When they both had cum, Carly whispered something in Sam's ear. Sam smiled, said 'definitely' and gave Carly a quick and friendly little kiss.

Carly rolled over in my arms until she was facing me. She whispered "Thank you," and kissed me.

As Carly's lips opened and her tongue greeted mine, her small soft strong hands began to rub and massage my breasts as she kissed me.Carly shifted off of me so she was kind of lying diagonal; her mouth on mine her upper body touching me as her lower body moved off me to the side. But I soon felt warm, familiar breath on my tenderest skin. I heard Sam's long slow inhale of her sniffing me with pleasure before I felt her lips and tongue.

I had a small sweet release with that first touch of skin on skin in my girl zone.  
I would call it an orgasm, but just a soft building one, so not everyone would.  
However, the tummy churning delight that it stoked higher in the sensual fire Sam was building in me, that was unquestionably orgasmic.  
I kissed Carly, the closest companion of my deepest love. The girl who had saved my love. Who had shown her that she could love and that she was worthy of love.  
We were still working on that one. But without Carly Shay it would have been too late by the time I met Sam, if I would have ever met her at all.

Now this girl, who had almost singlehandedly saved my beloved, was hurting. She lost her brother who was at least half a father to her was gone forever. And I wanted to put all the gratitude I felt toward her and consolation I offered into the kisses we shared, as Sam hungrily licked me out.

I moaned long and low and slow into Carly's mouth while the pleasure built within me as Sam licked me and stroked me sensuously with her exploring fingers. I caressed and explored Carly's firm sexy breasts; similar to mine but slightly bigger, and a bit softer.  
Sam had an athlete's body. Even if she was more active than athletic, having no actual sports experience or interest beyond pick up games in the park.  
She had a denseness a muscularity like a big cat that even extended to her firm full boobs.

My body was more like a kid honestly, I didn't have much in the way of curves but what I had had that same solid heft. Versus Carly who was only slightly more womanly than myself maybe a single inch in boobs and hips but her breasts and butt felt only slightly denser than marshmallow made of sexy. I don't know how to describe it better than that.

Sam had my legs and lips parted now and was switching off licking me out quite deeply and making out with my clit, loving it passionately. My passion built and built as Sam was moaning and licking inside me. While Carly kissed me with that carnal fuckbuddy affection that is just fun, as we squeezed, groped, and massaged each others boobs.

As my wave of passion crested, I began to cum on my sweet lovers greedy hungry tongue and moaned into Carly's mouth.

Suddenly my love for Sam, and for Carly in a different way. And my feeling so loved and cuddled and taken care of and truly deeply horned up and excited all hit me with another surprise bonus cum right as I was settling from the last one. Suddenly I was moaning and calling; one hand in Sams hair pushing her face into me, the other across Carly's back pulling her tight against me as I pressed my face to her collarbone and loosed my passionate moans.


	6. Chapter 6

We woke up the next morning tangled in a little bundle like puppies, arms and legs intertwined. You would expect Sam to be in the middle, because she was the link that connected us. But I actually think on some level that's why it wasn't her. I was in the middle I think because I am smaller and have a weaker vibe than the others. So people have this almost subconcious need to protect me. Although in fact I think I was Carly's equal in every way that mattered, if not Sam's. I know I had lost just as much as she had, and I didn't need some wild orgy to comfort me. Although anyone who knows me well could tell you that would be the best way to calm me down.

When Sam suggested we jump in the shower so we could get started on our day and Carly started hemming and hawing I had to say, "Carly, I'm not going to say last night was a mistake, because it was exactly the right thing to do under the circumstances. I'm not even going to say it was a one time thing. Because if you need it to happen again sometime you are always welcome in our bed. And you are even welcome in the shower although 3 might be a little crowded. But nothing that happens between us will ever change how we feel about you. If you slept with us a hundred times it would always be Sam and I as a couple offering fun and comfort to a very good friend. We will never think it means more than it does, because we have already found the love of our lives. We have our happily ever after. So there is no question in our minds what your place is. Loving you will never change what we feel for each other because we love you in a different way from each other." I smiled at her and gave her a hug. "Now I assume you will go back to your room because thats where your stuff is. You'll take a shower and get ready and meet us when we all rendevous in the lobby so we can get out on the road. But if that asumption is wrong, then you are welcome to join us."

"Oh no Cat." Carly said. "I think some time alone would actually be good. Thank you for holding me and kissing my tears away. But my time in Italy kind of made me a bit more self sufficient. So I will see you both in a little while."

Carly got up, put her clothes on and left us to it, giving us each a hug and a kiss.

Once Carly had left, leaving my beloved and I still naked and in bed, we found ourselves getting distracted briefly with each other.

When the door closed, Sam immediately wrapped me in her arms, kissing me again and again. "That was a really nice thing you did." Sam said. "I wanted to thank you. You barely know Carly. You met her once when we came to bust that guy she was dating who was two timing her with Tori. And then talking to her a few times on apPear.  
I know you did that for me. And I want you to know how nice, and kind, and loving I think it was."

"It was for you at least as much as it was for her." I said. "That's true. But I do kinda feel like I know her from watching you both on iCarly for years. She doesn't really feel like a stranger at all."

I kissed Sam again and held her tight. My hands running over her soft warm skin as my tongue met and massaged her tongue when our lips connected. I loved my Sammy-lamb with everything I was. All my heart and mind and body. I loved her with my soul, my essence. She was everything to me. I loved her with everything I had, as much as it was possible for me to love and yet each day I loved her more. Loving her increased my ability to love. And to love in a healthy way. She made me stronger and happier each day. Even days like the last few, I was miserable with the carnage I had seen, and caused, and the loss I had experienced. But the part of my heart that held the burning passion that was my love for Sam, was bigger and brighter each day.

I kissed my lover, rolling her on top of me, wanting to feel her above me. Her weight on me, holding me there, making me feel engulfed in her love. Surrounded by her body heat and her strong arms. I felt so safe and loved and taken care of.

I ran my hands over the muscles of her back, just stroking and touching, not kneading or trying to massage. Then I just wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.  
As our lips embraced and I touched, stroked and explored her tongue with mine. My love for her and my passion mixing into a volcanic brew of the sweet romantic blossoms of true love's kiss and gut boiling lust.

Sam moaned in the back of her throat and rubbed against me. Her soft curls rubbing on my smooth hairless skin sensually.

Then as we kissed more deeply, her thigh went between my legs as I did the same.

We knew that before long the others would be waiting for us, but we knew just as well how much we loved and needed each other and how much we liked to reconnect again immediately after the rare occasion we allowed friends to join in our love play.  
But grinding against each other's thighs as we made out voraciously, our legs intertwined. Our breasts pressed together tight, as we held each other through a naked, make out, dry hump kind of situation. That would provide a small but satisfactory orgasm that when combined with a playful and slippery shower would give us enough to make it through the day as a cohesive unit.

My mind was starting to get hot and horny while all thoughts except us and what we were doing melted away. All that mattered was kissing and touching my beloved. My horniness like a sexy itch that grinding on Sam's thigh slowly and sensuously scratched.

We moaned into each other's mouths as we moved together. I could feel the passion and pleasure building in me as I ran my finger tips down Sam's back, up her sides, over her ribs and then touching and rubbing her breasts while I kissed her.

As I felt the wave of my pleasure crest and I began to cum, I playfully took Sam's lower lip between my teeth and tugged at it . But soon the surge was too intense and I released her so I wouldn't accidentally bite down in my passion. I pressed my face to her shoulder, moaning loudly against her skin.

My beloved was right behind me. Possibly triggered by my own climax, she shifted her pelvis to be grinding more on the area of her clit on me and her breath came faster with a roughness. Then she began to moan as her movements became more firm and we moaned together as we both came and she carried on a moment longer just as she had started a second behind. Then we held each other and kissed a little while we got our breath back.

When we were feeling up to it we got up and got in the shower. There was more kissing and groping as we playfully and lovingly washed each other. Which I assume was more fun for me than Sam. As she had both more fun fur to wash and breastiness to wiggle. But she seemed satisfied enough with what I offered.

When we finally made it downstairs we were surprised to find out we were not the last ones down. Carly still hadn't made an appearance.  
Tori, who had seen her go into our room when she just happened to pop out to the camper, just as our door was closing behind her last night, had told everyone that she might be with us.  
So no one had gotten all that curious before.  
Quite honestly we wouldn't have been all that curious now, she wasn't that late and we hadn't slept much, it was quite possible that she had just fallen asleep in her room. But something happened.

We were split between just staying here another night. (It seemed pretty safe. There were about forty zombies in the ball room that someone had trapped in there before escaping and a few more random ones scattered around. But not as many as you'd think.) Overall we agreed it was safe for the moment. Where we disagreed was if we should trust that it would stay safe another day or if someone should wake Carly up so we could leave.

We had all but decided when Beck walked through the lobby door.

Jade, Tori, and I ran to hug him. But he quickly quieted our greetings and questions. "As you know Robbie and I are roommates. I wanted to keep an eye on him after I found his journal. Sure I shouldn't have read it, but I did. The things he's written about Cat and Tori in there. And Carly. He only met her that one time, but he seems to think that the iCarly webshow has secret messages from her to him."

"Yikes. That's some scary chiz." Tori said.

"It might get worse. The only reason I didn't answer Sam and Cat's call and join this caravan sooner, is I found out Robbie had bought software that allowed him to hack Carly's phone remotely.  
He's been spying on her for months. When this happened and he let it slip to me that he intended to follow Sam and Cat up here. You guys have never given an address of the place you went looking for Bigfoot. But he was able to get a GPS trace on Cat's phone. Something he hadn't been able to work out on Carly's.  
So I've been following him. I couldn't warn you or he would know I was following him.  
Well I lost him for twenty minutes when I dozed off at the wheel for a second and missed the offramp. But he's been here about half an hour. Including the twenty minutes it took for me to find his van and the ten minutes it took looking through this place to find you all.

"Holy wazzing chizburgers!" Sam said what we were all thinking. "Do you think that's why Carly hasn't come down yet?"


	7. Chapter 7

There was a crack like a gunshot.

Cat immediately thought it was. I wasn't all that surprised she did either, not having much experience. I mean it sounded different, but the nine millimeter sounded different than the shotgun.

But then a moment later she screamed. "Ahhh, Robbie's shot Carly!"

I don't know why... I guess she was worked up. Anyway when she shouted that I said, "That wasn't a gun, Kitty, that was wood." I looked around as I thought, even though we were nowhere near it. In a moment it hit me. "It sounded like it came from over by the ballroom. Like a certain freaky weirdo crowbarred open the doors."

Cat pulled what looked like a fancy meat cleaver with a bell guard from under the table, I realized it was her butterfly swords when she separated them. She had an odd, almost detached, but purposeful look in her eyes as she slid the blades across each other with a shh-ching and said, "I think I've had just about enough trouble from Mr. Robbie Shapiro for one lifetime." She stood up, gave a few wrist motions, as if limbering up and hefting the blade; getting used to the weight and balance as she started walking. I just looked at her, kind of in shock for a second.

When she got near the door she asked, "You coming?" without turning around or slowing at all.

I jumped up and jogged over, following just behind her through the door. It was one of those little entryways you only find in hotels and office buildings where it went: door, twelve feet of linoleum floor with big planters full of wilted ferns on each side, then another door which led outside.

We came outside, about ten feet from a zombie on his knees on the ground; wrist deep in the guts of a very weakly struggling man. Since they were both dressed in jeans and flannel with multi-pocket down vests and zombies didn't eat other zombies I guessed they were fellow survivors who had hidden here and things had only very recently gone wrong. Rather than them having anything to do with the released ballroom zombies.

First Cat brought one of the blades down on the juncture of his neck and shoulder. I guess she wasn't happy with the amount of damage it did and the zombie didn't even turn away from its meal.

She stabbed the other blade into its back, under the ribs, The zombie waved one arm to the side and back, like shooing a fly and groaned in a tone I would almost call annoyed.

I reached past her swinging the pick side of my rock hammer down on top of its head. Then I gave a hard twist so a substantial chunk cracked off letting the slushy brain goo leak out and stopping it. My girl gave it two more angry stabs, for some reason, before moving on.

As we walked around the corner we came upon six or eight who were scavenging carrion from two cars that had crashed head on, apparently killing at least one in each car from head wounds so they did not rise up.

This answered a question I didn't know I was wondering. Yes, they would eat the dead. They just wouldn't eat other zombies. I guess whatever animated them also rendered them inedible.

I heard a wet gakking noise and turned to see a one armed zombie approaching, reaching for me with her ragged stump. She had just a hint of confusion on her stupid face. Obviously wondering why I was clearly in arms reach and yet I hadn't been caught. I shoved my rock hammer out hard, coming straight forward from my hand and pushing her back hard with the crosspiece to her chest.

She went back at an angle rather than just straight back. So when I brought down the killing blow, following her to the ground with my eyes, and then looked up; I was mostly still facing the original group. I caught something familiar in my periphery. Fuckin' Gibby. Why'd it have to be fuckin' Gibby, he was a good kid. Not the best and the brightest, but more weird than stupid. Sort of a Spencer type, goofy but good-hearted. I assume that's why they always got along fairly well.

Normally I'm the first to say, 'kill all deadheads you see. If they aren't trouble now, they will be.' But seeing him there, dead, but clearly busy with his own pursuits; not hurting anyone. I just couldn't do it. I could say I decided to focus on finding Carly, and that creepy Robbie kid too, though for a different reason. But the truth was in that moment I didn't decide to do anything. I decided not to do something.

I just turned away and hurried down the sidewalk to the side door, leading back into the hotel.

"Why aren't we killing those ones?" Jade asked, running up with Tori.

"Cause that chubby one with no shirt on is Sam's friend, Giblet." Cat said, pointing at Gibby.

"How'd that happen?" Jade asked. "It's not like they're apex predators. Even that ape, Goomer, has been able to avoid getting chomped."

"They got him, it doesn't matter how." I said. I was already having second thoughts about leaving them be, I didn't need anyone challenging me.

"Did they at least get your mom?" Jade asked.

"I don't know, Jade. Carly's place is about four blocks from my mom's house. So this is nowhere close. I mean, same county, about forty five minutes. But realistically, not really."

"Sorry, I was just trying to cheer you up. I know how much I appreciated you making sure mine were gone and I wanted to give you a taste." Jade said.

"Thanks," I said. I honestly believed Jade was someone who could say such a thing sincerely as a friend.

Tori started walking. With Jade beside her and me and Cat behind. I held Cat back with a touch. "Is she gonna be a help or a burden?" I asked, pointing subtly at Tori. "I know her dad's a cop and she's done some target shooting. But she's a goody-goody. Does she have the stones?"

"People think I'm a goody-goody." Cat said, "Some people might worry if I have the stones."

"No, some might worry that you'd adopt a zombie as a pet. You are a kind and gentle soul. But once you made it clear you saw them as enemies, not misunderstood underdogs; no one questioned you could do what needs doing. And your treatment of Mr West cleared up any questions about non-zombie enemies. Same with the folks in the storm drains. Kitten, you're a bit of a badass, even if you lead with your heart most of the time. I haven't seen the same with Tori. So I asked."

Tori opened up the door to the next hallway and there was an enormous woman. At least six five, at least three-fifty, I'm certain. The left side of her face was normalish. Maybe a little slack around the eye and mouth. The right side, the upper quarter was stripped down to her skull. Hanging loose to her cheek, but all in one piece like a mask.

Tori blew her head off without a thought. Or really, even, pausing her conversation with Jade. Not sparing the woman more than a quick glance.

It didn't put my reservations to rest, but it did make me feel a bit better.

Cat and I followed Jade and Tori through the door. I immediately saw a deadhead girl sitting on the vinyl couch staring blankly at the tv screen. The tv wasn't even on.

I would have thought she was fully dead, but there were small movements and even though she wasn't going anywhere, and there was nothing that could be called even the most base awareness. But there was some indefinable spark that told me she was undead and not dead dead.

I was going to change that in a moment. But she was just sitting there. While I could say I didn't want to make any real loud noises that might draw a horde. I wanted to focus on finding Carly and catching Robbie secondly.

But my reluctance to just kill her, not even reluctance, the fact that it was not a kneejerk reaction I didn't even need to think about. That proved to me, at least in my head, proved to me I should have killed Gibby without a thought. It should have been instinctive. Releasing him from this horrible half-life. Exactly how I would hope someone would release me if need be.

I immediately pulled out my rock hammer, I'd decided to just pop the pick end through her skull and lever it up cracking her skull wide open.

But that didn't stop me from wondering if maybe I was the one who didnt have the stones.

Before I could we were joined by a group of about twelve that undoubtedly were from the ballroom horde. And they were just walking down the hall, barely even looking at us. Just plodding along, some looking down, some looking forward, but none really taking any notice of us. The girl on the couch watching the tv that wasn't on. They noticed her. They surrounded the couch and then rather than trying to lift her, or anything so simple and silly, they tried to encourage her participation through walking into her all at the same time, they crowded around her and tried to push against her legs with their own. Somehow convinced that this would get them the outcome they desired.

I was going to at least discuss killing them all with the others, but Tori and Jade were too far ahead, the others had slowed us down too much. Cat said, "I'd rather kill Robbie and save Carly than even worry about zombies who don't even notice us or care."

"Okay." I said and we kept walking.

When we went around the next corner we found Jade and Tori trying to catch a wiry haired terrier mix puppy. "Grab it quick," Tori said.

I tried and missed.

"Quick!" Tori said, "Its got a toe."

"Just let it eat the toe." Jade said. "I'm sure its not going to give it a taste for human flesh."

"It's not about that." Tori said, we were all running around after it. "We don't know if its a human toe or a zombie toe."

"Dogs are not going to eat zombie meat." I said, "Right?"

"Yeah," Cat said. "Dogs are so smart. That's why you can poison them by putting it in a hotdog."

I threw myself on it as it ran by. Scraping one knee, banging the other. But I caught it without hurting it.  
Sure I did it at least partially because Cat liked it when I cared about things. But I didn't want a hungry puppy getting sick either.

I slipped my finger in behind the toe and forced it out of it's mouth. Getting bitten in the process, but puppy bites are not something I'm afraid of.

I had some jerky in my pocket and I gave the pup a piece to hold it over. It had a collar so when Tori brought me an extension cord saying, 'Best I can do right now,' I tied it to the collar for her.

"What kind of pup do you think she is?" Tori asked.

"Mindy was a vet tech who just babysat for extra money before the job with Peezy B took care of her money issues. She'd probably know." Cat said.

"Find Robbie, puppy. Find him." Cat continued, speaking close to the puppy's face and pointing..

She seemed totally serious, and I admit I wasn't sure. But Tori was and she joined in with my girl trying to get the puppy to find the creep. But then they melted into laughter that was far more vigorous than I think the situation warranted. While Jade and I looked on confused and shrugged.

The puppy did start to pull and since we had no specific plan except to move forward we just followed it.

"If you didn't have the hot pants sweeties for Robbie, he never would have thought he could get a girl like Carly." My baby said, with a poke to my ribs.

"Me? Me? If anyone gave the boy an inflated sense of who is in his league it's you, Kitten." I replied.

"Pshaw," She pshawed. "I kissed him twice. Once to prove that a girl could kiss convincingly while feeling nothing, after Trina kissed him on stage and he insisted she was in love with him. And the second at the Cow Wow dance when he kissed me without permission or encouragement. You, my queen, kissed him intentionally and completely by choice."

"To make you jealous." I said.

"Well that was pretty silly of you wasn't it?" My Kitten laughed.

I knew she acts like she was never jealous now. But at the same time I knew she was quite upset at the time. Even if that was more because of her feelings about me and Jade hanging out without her and jealousy that I would kiss anyone else. Than anything that even applied to Robbie.

I kissed her ear, "The only one I have the 'hot pants sweeties' for is you, babygirl."

"Mmmm, then I'm the lucky one." Cat said with a smile. "You know who is also lucky? Mindy. Goomer definitely wants to give her smooshy smooches."

"I thought he liked that Dice kid." Jade said.

"That's sick," I yelled. "And where'd you come from?" I thought her and Tori were a ways in front of us. But somehow they had faded back to right next to us.

"Just saying what I thought." Jade said.

"Everyone who ever met them thought that." Tori said. "I've talked to Nona about it when all of us went to dinner after graduation."

"You talked about Dice and Goomer diddling fiddles with my Nona?" Cat asked. "She never said anything to me about it."

"She steered away from talking about anything gay with you. She felt that was respectful, to not bring anything up until you came out with her. But since I've been out for almost a year with Jade. She talked about almost nothing but gay stuff on the few times I saw her over the last six months. I think it was a combination of over-compensating, wanting to show she was cool with it. Plus the fact that she didn't feel she could talk about it with you. So I, as your friend, became the surrogate."

My angel was suddenly thoughtful and sad. Tori apologized because she knew that she had stirred up Nona memories.  
It's amazing to think four days ago everything was normal. But like I told Cat on that first morning, its a different world and theres no avoiding it or worrying about it. It is what it is. This was life.

No use fretting about the old world because it wasnt Narnia. And no use crying cause this world isnt the old world.

Of course I didn't say that. I just hugged my girl for a minute. She didn't start crying in my arms like I expected. She just clung tightly to me for maybe thirty seconds, released it into a normal hug for maybe thirty more then said, "It's okay, Sammy. I'm okay." And she released first. Possibly the first time my girl had ended a hug first in our entire relationship, though I couldn't be sure.

This is all very interesting," Jade said. "And I am honestly happy we all love each other. And if the big ape gets a happy ending with Sister Mary Sunshine, that's great, more power to 'em. But we are still in a bad horror movie. Carly is still missing. Robbie is still at large. And just this morning we have seen 'normal' flesh eating monsters, zombies that prefer corpses to live meat, and zombies that completely ignore us. So forgive me if I say we have much more important issues than who's fucking who."

 


End file.
